I admit that I did not have a high opinion of Jake Paul when I paid $54 to watch his education video series on how to become a social media star. I found his brand of comedy childish and only appealing to the 11-year-olds that make up his YouTube audience and wait in lines screaming outside his live appearances. I assumed that he had managed to win the hearts and minds of millions of teens and tweens purely by being cute and doing pratfalls. I knew the rough outline of Jake Paul: YouTube enfant terrible, bad rapper, bad neighbor.

But after watching his 74-video course called “Edfluence” on how to become a social media star, I have come away with a very different opinion. Jake Paul is a genius. An evil genius who should not be celebrated or rewarded, but feared. To underestimate Paul as a dope who lucked into stardom by looks and charm is a grave, grave mistake. I, for one, am afraid.

In brief, Jake Paul is a YouTube star who is also the younger brother of fellow YouTuber Logan Paul. Logan was a breakout Vine star, and Jake followed in his footsteps and assembled a crew of fellow YouTubers to all live in a house with him that he calls “Team 10.”

In the midst of all this, Jake Paul launched Edfluence.com on Jan. 8. I needed to find out what secrets lurked inside.

Paul puts aside his pro wrestler–style barking at the camera and comes across as thoughtful and competent.

There’s an introductory video you can watch for free where Paul tells you how social media stardom is within your reach. You take a quiz to find out what genre of influencer you should be (prankster, comedian, vlogger, beauty guru, fitness guru, entrepreneur, videographer, photographer, fashionista, singer, dancer, or model. Jake considers himself a combo vlogger-comedian-bro). Then you get to a page that asks you to pay $7 to join “Team 1000.” I eagerly plunked down my corporate credit card. According to other people’s accounts of trying this, your $7 also gives you access to another, longer video, although I didn’t see this because I was already jumping ahead to fork over another $57 it asked for on the next page to fully join the program (strangely, the checkout page only asked for $47).

Over the course of 12 chapters, each chapter containing four to eight videos, Paul puts aside his pro wrestler–style barking at the camera and comes across as thoughtful and competent, with deep insight about social media and an astonishing bird’s eye view of the landscape he occupies.

The Edfluence video series starts with Paul sitting on his balcony overlooking Los Angeles in ripped jeans and ripped T-shirt, describing the history of social media, starting with MySpace. His version is slightly skewed to his own experience. He describes the rise of Vine, “I relate it to like, almost like the whole United States was on Vine and watched it.”

In Paul's overview of the rise and fall of social platforms, the high school dropout reverse-engineers Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen’s theory of jobs to be done. “We started to see that different platforms were there for different reasons,” he says. “And that’s really important for us as influencers, and me as Jake Paul, to understand is why there’s different platforms and how to create content for different platforms.”

The intricacies of how the algorithms on these platforms work feels like a bewildering mystery to most of their users. But not to Jake Paul, especially on his most lucrative platform, YouTube.

Paul has all sorts of tips on how to make the smallest tweaks in video editing, profile, search engine optimization (“YouTube is, at the end of the day, a search engine…that’s why Google bought it,” he says), and what time of day to post (after school west coast time during the week, as early as possible on weekends), to game the algorithm.

He advises viewers that YouTube’s algorithm rewards long watch times (how long a viewer stayed on the video). This favors the vlog format, and he says even a vlog should tell a story to hook viewers in for as long as possible. The example he gives is of one of his most popular videos, in which he pretends to buy his brother Logan a Lamborghini, then reveals it was only a prank, but then, after tears, the brothers decide to go buy their own Lamborghinis together.

“It was always a story, it has a beginning, middle and end,” he explains. “The beginning was, its my brother’s birthday, I’m going to prank him. The middle was me doing it. The end was us going to buy Lamborghinis. So it truly followed that model, the watch time went up like crazy, YouTube put it in front of everyone using its algorithm.”

Paul said he is able to draw these conclusions about watch time and posting time from the analytics YouTube gives back to him in its dashboard. He also uses third-party programs like SocialBlade and is obsessed with studying his numbers. At one point, to prove how well he knows his stats, he asks the producer off camera to look up his current weekly views — his guess is very close.

The series includes chapters devoted to specific platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Musical.ly, Snapchat, and YouTube. The videos on Facebook and Twitter will horrify anyone born before 1995. He straight up says that Twitter is useful as a “great way to capture an older demographic.”

Describing why it’s important for influencers to make a Facebook page, he said, “You’re probably like, ‘Jake, why Facebook. I don’t know about Facebook, my parents use Facebook.’” “This is why Facebook is still really really relevant,” he explains. “A lot of the bigger companies are run by older people who still use Facebook and will want to monetize on there.”

Paul reveals himself to be a savage mercenary in terms of his quest for followers.

Seven hours of Jake Paul educational videos have aged me from a sprightly thirtysomething into a dusty crone, trembling in fear of the Musical.ly youths. To be fair, even Paul admits that he thinks Musical.ly is cheesy and for little kids, but he uses it because it’s a good way to cross-platform promote his other social media.

Paul reveals himself to be a savage mercenary in terms of his quest for followers. One of the tactics he advises for gaining followers on almost all platforms is the scummy move of following thousands of people in hopes they’ll follow back, then quickly unfollowing them.

Other advice to gain followers:

Run a contest where you say you’ll privately DM one of the next 500 people who follow you.

Suck up to people with bigger followings in hopes they’ll follow you back or promote you.

Make witty comments on celebrities’ Instagrams, since the algorithm surfaces top comments, and people will see your profile and follow you back.

Say in an Instagram Story (not a post, that’s gauche) that you’ll follow people back.

Abuse the Live feature in Instagram, because Live videos give everyone a notification and that means they’re way more likely to watch it than just a regular Story.

Snapchat, which is notoriously unfriendly to influencers, presents a large hurdle for wannabe social media stars since it doesn’t have much of a discovery mechanism. The best way to grow a following is to plaster your Snapchat handle on all other social platforms and frequently encourage people to follow you there. Here, Paul gets downright devious: He suggests you create a Tinder account with your Snapchat handle in the bio to expose it to thousands of people in your area who might swipe by it. Even if you’re not single, hey, you might get some followers.

Another sneaky trick Paul uses on Snapchat is to make his account look verified (even though it isn’t) by making his username have a ton of spaces after it and then an emoji. On Snapchat, only verified accounts have emojis associated with them that appear in the right-hand column of your friends list. By using the space bar and an emoji, you can trick people into thinking you’re verified, and this makes you stand out in their friends list so they’re more likely to tap into your stories.

Paul uses the space bar and the dollar emoji to make it seem as if he's verified.

Screenshot / Snapchat

On YouTube, there already are several people who have posted “reviews” of Edfluenced or talked about how they got scammed by it. One of these videos, with 25,000 views — ”I GOT SCAMMED BY JAKE PAUL || EDFLUENCE” complains that after paying the $7, you don’t get the full experience. It seems to be the common complaint about the school of Jake Paul: an unclear pricing structure, where most people who are out $7 are shocked to have to shell out more for the full tutorial.

There are some unpolished elements to the series. There are sloppy editing mistakes — a few times, Paul points to a graphic that’s supposed to show up on screen and doesn’t appear, or simple HTML issues where the video title fonts don’t parse. But the biggest problem is that Paul frequently references a community forum where you can talk with your fellow Team 1000 influencers to collaborate on videos or promote each other’s social media. This forum doesn’t exist.

Screenshot / Edfluence

He also says that he will be watching his viewers' videos to encourage us along, and will occasionally pick someone to appear in a video with, or promote our videos on his own social platform.

But there is no mechanism where Jake Paul would ever know what videos or social media posts I’m making; there’s no community section or way to reach out to him. A customer service rep for Edfluence said that the community feature wasn’t included in the January soft launch, but will be integrated into the site at some point in the future. An email and text to Paul were not returned by publishing time.

But is the content of the course a scam? No. The stuff Jake Paul is telling you is probably something that someone who has a few years of experience working in social media marketing would probably also be able to tell you.

I have come away from this course knowing the scary reality that Jake Paul is terrifyingly good at pumping out Jake Paul to as many young eyeballs as possible, and hooking them in for their money (merchandise sales) and pimping out his following to brands who pay him for “brand activations” or the Google Adsense preroll ads that appear on his videos. It is not just blind luck or that he backflipped his way into this. He has an innate understanding of the large tech platforms that shape our lives that is probably better than many reporters'. But instead of using it to hold the powerful people who run those platforms accountable, or to shape our understanding of how to navigate those platforms, he is using it to, idk, buy a Lamborghini for himself or another dirt bike. He’s Jake Paul — could we have really expected something more?

]]>Katie Notopouloshttps://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/i-took-jake-pauls-educational-seriesThu, 18 Jan 2018 16:36:52 -0500The year is 2032. “President Paul, the nuclear codes are 4-2-0-6-9.”katienotopoulosnonadult
<iframe src="https://instagram.com/p/BbWVI4Eh1dK/embed/" height="710" width="612" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" ></iframe>
<p><small>Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://instagram.com/p/BbWVI4Eh1dK/#author_jakepaul">Instagram: @jakepaul</a></small></p>
<p>I admit that I did not have a high opinion of Jake Paul when I paid $54 to watch his education video series on how to become a social media star. I found his brand of comedy childish and only appealing to the 11-year-olds that make up his YouTube audience and wait in lines screaming outside his live appearances. I assumed that he had managed to win the hearts and minds of millions of teens and tweens purely by being cute and doing pratfalls. I knew the rough outline of Jake Paul: YouTube enfant terrible, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSlb1ezRqfA&amp;list=PLiCDAmR3KCElL-O4oI-CLhGElZn4uc-sc">bad rapper</a>, bad <a href="https://mic.com/articles/182398/social-media-star-jake-paul-accused-of-turning-la-neighborhood-into-a-living-hell-and-war-zone">neighbor</a>.<br /></p><p>But after watching his 74-video course called &ldquo;<a href="https://www.edfluence.com/">Edfluence</a>&rdquo; on how to become a social media star, I have come away with a very different opinion. Jake Paul is a genius. An evil genius who should not be celebrated or rewarded, but feared. To underestimate Paul as a dope who lucked into stardom by looks and charm is a grave, grave mistake. I, for one, am afraid.</p><p>In brief, Jake Paul is a YouTube star who is also the younger brother of fellow YouTuber Logan Paul. Logan was a breakout Vine star, and Jake followed in his footsteps and assembled a crew of fellow YouTubers to all live in a house with him that he calls &ldquo;Team 10.&rdquo;</p><p>The brothers have had their share of controversies. Jake made headlines last year when <a href="https://mic.com/articles/182398/social-media-star-jake-paul-accused-of-turning-la-neighborhood-into-a-living-hell-and-war-zone">the neighbors of the Team 10 house complained</a> about him terrorizing the neighborhood with stunts like lighting his pool on fire. The scandal <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/07/jake-paul-disney-bizaardvark-neighbors-controversy">cost Jake his role</a> in the Disney Channel show <em>Bizaardvark</em>. On January 1 this year, Logan Paul kneecapped his career by <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/delaneystrunk/logan-paul-dead-body-video-reactions?utm_term=.uu9GyEmxm#.dsqLOQVNV">videotaping the dead body</a> of an apparent suicide victim, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiarosenbaum/youtube-cuts-business-ties-with-logan-paul?utm_term=.xaj8x6nzn#.vgbGr2LWL">losing lucrative deals</a> after a massive public backlash.</p><p>After Logan&rsquo;s controversy, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/a-leaked-video-shows-popular-youtuber-jake-paul-brother-of?utm_term=.deqkQ4V5V#.qo1onrGvG">a leaked video showed Jake using the n-word</a> while singing along to a rap song. <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/jenniferabidor/23-old-logan-and-jake-paul-tweets-that-can-speak-for?utm_term=.ra3AJO6N6#.tg7NPAW9W">Offensive older tweets</a> from both brothers resurfaced. Then, Jake posted a video with a thumbnail of his girlfriend straddling him on a bed in lingerie titled, &ldquo;I lost my virginity&rdquo; (the video was about a ski trip, not having sex), and <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/jake-paul-virginity-video/">people were outraged</a>. January has not been a good month for the Paul boys.</p><p>In the midst of all this, Jake Paul <a href="http://www.tubefilter.com/2018/01/04/jake-paul-edfluence-social-media-famous-online-course/">launched</a> Edfluence.com on Jan. 8. I needed to find out what secrets lurked inside.</p>
<p><i>Paul puts aside his pro wrestler&ndash;style barking at the camera and comes across as thoughtful and competent.</i></p>
<p>There&rsquo;s an introductory video you can watch for free where Paul tells you how social media stardom is within your reach. You take a quiz to find out what genre of influencer you should be (prankster, comedian, vlogger, beauty guru, fitness guru, entrepreneur, videographer, photographer, fashionista, singer, dancer, or model. Jake considers himself a combo vlogger-comedian-bro). Then you get to a page that asks you to pay $7 to join &ldquo;Team 1000.&rdquo; I eagerly plunked down my corporate credit card. According to other people&rsquo;s accounts of trying this, your $7 also gives you access to another, longer video, although I didn&rsquo;t see this because I was already jumping ahead to fork over another $57 it asked for on the next page to <i>fully</i> join the program (strangely, the checkout page only asked for $47).</p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2018-01/18/13/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane-03/sub-buzz-10182-1516301877-1.png?resize=625:516" width="625" height="516" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://Edfluence.com">Edfluence.com</a></small></p>
<p>Over the course of 12 chapters, each chapter containing four to eight videos, Paul puts aside his pro wrestler&ndash;style barking at the camera and comes across as thoughtful and competent, with deep insight about social media and an astonishing bird&rsquo;s eye view of the landscape he occupies.</p><p>The Edfluence video series starts with Paul sitting on his balcony overlooking Los Angeles in ripped jeans and ripped T-shirt, describing the history of social media, starting with MySpace. His version is slightly skewed to his own experience. He describes the rise of Vine, &ldquo;I relate it to like, almost like the whole United States was on Vine and watched it.&rdquo;<br /></p><p>In Paul&#39;s overview of the rise and fall of social platforms, the high school dropout reverse-engineers Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen&rsquo;s theory of <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/09/know-your-customers-jobs-to-be-done">jobs to be done</a>. &ldquo;We started to see that different platforms were there for different reasons,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s really important for us as influencers, and me as Jake Paul, to understand is why there&rsquo;s different platforms and how to create content for different platforms.&rdquo;<br /></p><p>Right now, social platforms are at a strange crossroads: <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/facebook-is-making-big-changes-to-your-news-feed">Facebook just announced</a> a big change with its feed shifting away from news, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/instagram-integrating-peoples-posts-you-dont-follow">Instagram is inserting</a> the Explore tab into users&#39; regular feed, Twitter&rsquo;s arm has finally been twisted into <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/12/18/16790864/twitter-bans-nazis-hate-groups">banning Nazis</a>, and YouTube, after being <a href="https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet-c39c471271d2">pummeled</a> <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/youtube-is-addressing-its-massive-child-exploitation-problem?utm_term=.huBrqV2v2#.sm5on6kOk">over</a> its <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/blakemontgomery/youtube-has-deleted-hundreds-of-thousands-of-disturbing?utm_term=.qv1vPaKlK#.jsJw3DRjR">exploitative kids&rsquo; content</a> and, well, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/daveyalba/youtubes-logan-paul-debacle-highlights-its-content">Logan Paul</a>, has announced <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/victoriasanusi/small-channels-on-youtube-are-not-happy-about-being?utm_term=.oxWyOwr1r#.sa5jy9VGV">drastic changes</a> in its rules for monetizing accounts and is <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/youtube-will-add-more-human-moderators-to-stop-its-child?utm_term=.ss5p4R3l3#.keLL2Arkr">adding thousands of new moderators</a>.</p><p>The intricacies of how the algorithms on these platforms work feels like a bewildering mystery to most of their users. But not to Jake Paul, especially on his most lucrative platform, YouTube.</p><p>Paul has all sorts of tips on how to make the smallest tweaks in video editing, profile, search engine optimization (&ldquo;YouTube is, at the end of the day, a search engine&hellip;that&rsquo;s why Google bought it,&rdquo; he says), and what time of day to post (after school west coast time during the week, as early as possible on weekends), to game the algorithm.</p><p>He advises viewers that YouTube&rsquo;s algorithm rewards long watch times (how long a viewer stayed on the video). This favors the vlog format, and he says even a vlog should tell a story to hook viewers in for as long as possible. The example he gives is of one of his most popular videos, in which he pretends to buy his brother Logan a Lamborghini, then reveals it was only a prank, but then, after tears, the brothers decide to go buy their own Lamborghinis together.</p>
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YBAGjk5b2us" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<p><small>Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=YBAGjk5b2us">youtube.com</a></small></p>
<p>&ldquo;It was always a story, it has a beginning, middle and end,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;The beginning was, <i>its my brother&rsquo;s birthday, I&rsquo;m going to prank him</i>. The middle was me doing it. The end was us going to buy Lamborghinis. So it truly followed that model, the watch time went up like crazy, YouTube put it in front of everyone using its algorithm.&rdquo;</p><p>Paul said he is able to draw these conclusions about watch time and posting time from the analytics YouTube gives back to him in its dashboard. He also uses third-party programs like SocialBlade and is obsessed with studying his numbers. At one point, to prove how well he knows his stats, he asks the producer off camera to look up his current weekly views &mdash; his guess is very close.</p>
<p><i>Twitter is useful as a "great way to capture an older demographic."</i></p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2018-01/18/14/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane-02/sub-buzz-12925-1516304098-1.png?resize=625:351" width="625" height="351" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://Edfluence.com">Edfluence.com</a></small></p>
<p>The series includes chapters devoted to specific platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Musical.ly, Snapchat, and YouTube. The videos on Facebook and Twitter will horrify anyone born before 1995. He straight up says that Twitter is useful as a &ldquo;great way to capture an older demographic.&rdquo;<br /></p><p>Describing why it&rsquo;s important for influencers to make a Facebook page, he said, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re probably like, &lsquo;Jake, why Facebook. I don&rsquo;t know about Facebook, my parents use Facebook.&rsquo;&rdquo; &ldquo;This is why Facebook is still really really relevant,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;A lot of the bigger companies are run by older people who still use Facebook and will want to monetize on there.&rdquo;</p>
<p><i>Paul reveals himself to be a savage mercenary in terms of his quest for followers. </i></p>
<p>Seven hours of Jake Paul educational videos have aged me from a sprightly thirtysomething into a dusty crone, trembling in fear of the Musical.ly youths. To be fair, even Paul admits that he thinks Musical.ly is cheesy and for little kids, but he uses it because it&rsquo;s a good way to cross-platform promote his other social media.<br /></p><p>Paul reveals himself to be a savage mercenary in terms of his quest for followers. One of the tactics he advises for gaining followers on almost all platforms is the scummy move of following thousands of people in hopes they&rsquo;ll follow back, then quickly unfollowing them.</p><p>Other advice to gain followers:</p><ul><li>Run a contest where you say you&rsquo;ll privately DM one of the next 500 people who follow you.<br /></li><li>Suck up to people with bigger followings in hopes they&rsquo;ll follow you back or promote you.<br /></li><li>Make witty comments on celebrities&rsquo; Instagrams, since the algorithm surfaces top comments, and people will see your profile and follow you back.<br /></li><li>Say in an Instagram Story (not a post, that&rsquo;s gauche) that you&rsquo;ll follow people back.<br /></li><li>Abuse the Live feature in Instagram, because Live videos give everyone a notification and that means they&rsquo;re way more likely to watch it than just a regular Story.<br /></li></ul><p><br /></p><p>Snapchat, which is <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/frustrated-snap-social-influencers-leaving-for-rival-platfor?utm_term=.exv1gAoNo#.qx1wEarPr">notoriously unfriendly</a> to influencers, presents a large hurdle for wannabe social media stars since it doesn&rsquo;t have much of a discovery mechanism. The best way to grow a following is to plaster your Snapchat handle on all other social platforms and frequently encourage people to follow you there. Here, Paul gets downright devious: He suggests you create a Tinder account with your Snapchat handle in the bio to expose it to thousands of people in your area who might swipe by it. Even if you&rsquo;re not single, hey, you might get some followers.</p><p>Another sneaky trick Paul uses on Snapchat is to make his account look verified (even though it isn&rsquo;t) by making his username have a ton of spaces after it and then an emoji. On Snapchat, only verified accounts have emojis associated with them that appear in the right-hand column of your friends list. By using the space bar and an emoji, you can trick people into thinking you&rsquo;re verified, and this makes you stand out in their friends list so they&rsquo;re more likely to tap into your stories.</p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2018-01/18/14/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane-02/sub-buzz-11562-1516302343-5.jpg?resize=625:146" width="625" height="146" alt="" /></p>
<p>Paul uses the space bar and the dollar emoji to make it seem as if he&#39;s verified.</p>
<p><small>Screenshot / Snapchat</small></p>
<p>On YouTube, there already are several people who have posted &ldquo;reviews&rdquo; of Edfluenced or talked about how they got scammed by it. One of these videos, with 25,000 views &mdash; &rdquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2eAn8zwe14">I GOT SCAMMED BY JAKE PAUL || EDFLUENCE</a>&rdquo; complains that after paying the $7, you don&rsquo;t get the full experience. It seems to be the common complaint about the school of Jake Paul: an unclear pricing structure, where most people who are out $7 are shocked to have to shell out more for the full tutorial.<br /></p><p>There are some unpolished elements to the series. There are sloppy editing mistakes &mdash; a few times, Paul points to a graphic that&rsquo;s supposed to show up on screen and doesn&rsquo;t appear, or simple HTML issues where the video title fonts don&rsquo;t parse. But the biggest problem is that Paul frequently references a community forum where you can talk with your fellow Team 1000 influencers to collaborate on videos or promote each other&rsquo;s social media. This forum doesn&rsquo;t exist.</p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2018-01/18/14/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane-02/sub-buzz-11991-1516302998-5.png?resize=625:354" width="625" height="354" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Screenshot / Edfluence</small></p>
<p>He also says that he will be watching his viewers&#39; videos to encourage us along, and will occasionally pick someone to appear in a video with, or promote our videos on his own social platform.</p><p>But there is no mechanism where Jake Paul would ever know what videos or social media posts I&rsquo;m making; there&rsquo;s no community section or way to reach out to him. A customer service rep for Edfluence said that the community feature wasn&rsquo;t included in the January soft launch, but will be integrated into the site at some point in the future. An email and text to Paul were not returned by publishing time.</p><p>But is the content of the course a scam? No. The stuff Jake Paul is telling you is probably something that someone who has a few years of experience working in social media marketing would probably also be able to tell you.</p><p>I have come away from this course knowing the scary reality that Jake Paul is terrifyingly good at pumping out Jake Paul to as many young eyeballs as possible, and hooking them in for their money (merchandise sales) and pimping out his following to brands who pay him for &ldquo;brand activations&rdquo; or the Google Adsense preroll ads that appear on his videos. It is not just blind luck or that he backflipped his way into this. He has an innate understanding of the large tech platforms that shape our lives that is probably better than many reporters&#39;. But instead of using it to hold the powerful people who run those platforms accountable, or to shape our understanding of how to navigate those platforms, he is using it to, idk, buy a Lamborghini for himself or another dirt bike. He&rsquo;s Jake Paul &mdash; could we have really expected something more?</p>
<p><small></small></p>
nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultPaul uses the space bar and the dollar emoji to make it seem as if he's verified.nonadultnonadult<p><i>Twitter is useful as a "great way to capture an older demographic."</i></p>nonadult<p><i>Paul puts aside his pro wrestler–style barking at the camera and comes across as thoughtful and competent.</i></p>nonadultWhat We Lose When POC Entertainers Crack Into The Mainstreamhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/navneetalang/what-we-lose-when-poc-entertainers-crack-into-the-mainstream?utm_term=4ldqpia

Rebecca Hendin / BuzzFeed

The first time I felt like a real person, I was having a beer and listening to Canadian poet Rajinder S. Pal read from his book Pulse. Both were new experiences — I was in my mid-twenties and had only recently started drinking, as well as going to poetry readings — but it was Pal’s words that were most revelatory. He spoke of watching his mother make chapattis, the rustling sounds of her chiffon salwaar kameez, her hands and sleeves stained with flour, a scene as mundane as it was intimate. A commonplace moment from my own life, watching my mother do the same hundreds of times, felt hidden from most of the culture I lived in. But in a pub in the southeast corner of downtown Toronto, I felt those two, disparate halves of my life — the Western and the Indian, a pint of amber lager and South Asian poetry — briefly fused.

It wasn’t until many years later that I felt a similar rush of recognition, but this time, it was while watching Lilly Singh’s video “Sh*t Punjabi Mothers Say.” Singh, better known as Superwoman, is of course the wildly popular YouTube star who rose to fame making comedy shorts and rap videos. From an Indian family in the sprawling, diverse Toronto municipality of Scarborough, Singh has become known for her gregarious, upbeat persona and humour that derives much of its pull from her status as a child of South Asian immigrants. Now, with more than 9 million YouTube subscribers, she’s made the inevitable move from Toronto to Los Angeles and has landed parts in the upcoming Bad Moms and Ice Age: Collision Course, in addition to appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Her first book will be published next March.

“Sh*t Punjabi Mothers Say” is still one of Singh’s more popular videos, with around 6.2 million views. She plays a cartoonish version of her own mother, going through the clichés familiar to many Punjabis: idle threats of violence, the relentless questioning, all delivered in that particular Punjabi idiom. On its own it isn’t much, just an acting out of common phrases. But it resonated for the same reason Pal’s delicate verse cut so deeply: A feature of my own life missing from public view was suddenly made visible, the hidden intimacy of immigrant life now splashed onto the canvas of the world. When you are a minority, it is no small thing to finally see yourself.

A feature of my own life missing from public view was suddenly made visible, the hidden intimacy of immigrant life now splashed onto the canvas of the world.

Now that Superwoman’s career is taking off, however, it is also possible to detect a change in her recent YouTube videos. If “Sh*t Punjabi Mothers Say” was perhaps obscure to some viewers, pulling its humour from cultural specificity, then Singh’s more recent work casts its net wider, evoking a sense of shared humanity despite difference. Popular topics this year have included “What School Actually Taught Me,” “Every Argument With My Parents Ever,” and “Types of Uber Drivers” — the kind of list videos that are a staple of YouTube personalities (and BuzzFeed’s many channels, too). And why wouldn’t they be? They are breezy fun and are full of the most important currency a YouTuber can possess: relatability. We don’t all have Punjabi moms, but we can all relate to the minutiae of school, dating, or family.

Yet if Superwoman’s transition from YouTube fame to the more mainstream sort — that distinction still holding for now — has rendered her more culturally specific work less relevant, less visible, it also suggests something about the limits of being a minority in a majority culture. While identity politics has sets its sights squarely on representation — on whether or not there are enough women or queer folk or people of colour in our media — the unspoken mirror image of that idea, however, is that it is just as difficult in North America to imagine a mainstream culture that isn’t so overwhelmingly white culturally. It isn’t just about who gets to be seen, but also what we consider shared, and it is always of one cultural tradition, one language. The pattern in which, for example, so-called ethnic food only becomes mainstream at the point that white people become aware of it is repeated in culture at large ad nauseam so that a minority or an immigrant only gets recognizably big at the point at that they become legible to a white mainstream. What is not comprehensible to a so-called norm — that is, the shit that Punjabi mothers say — has to be discarded in favour of what remains legible to more people. The bicultural are forever icebergs, only ever partially readable to those who don’t share our mixture, containing obscured, untranslatable depths. The bind of the immigrant entertainer is always thus to speak to one’s own or speak to the mainstream — and each entail a certain kind of loss.

The bind of the immigrant entertainer is always thus to speak to one’s own or speak to the mainstream — and each entail a certain kind of loss.

It is hard to discuss Superwoman’s rapid ascent to fame without mention of that other brown, Sikh, Toronto-based YouTube star, Jasmeet Singh, better known as JusReign. Originally from Guelph, Ontario, JusReign, like Superwoman, rose to popularity on comedy videos that play off the tropes of being a child of immigrants: South Asian house parties in the suburbs, Punjabi uncles discussing politics, or the slightly more pointed “Brown People Try White People Food.”

Though both personalities have uncanny senses of comic timing, and each play off and critique cultural stereotypes, in many ways JusReign is a mirror image of Superwoman, similar but reversed. Where she is from East Toronto — incredibly diverse, but in which whites are still the most populous group — he blew up in the city’s western suburb of Brampton, where South Asians form the largest single ethnicity. Where Superwoman is Hollywood pretty and relentlessly professional, JusReign is ordinary and has an off-kilter, occasionally unhinged style. And where Superwoman has begun to shift her repertoire toward a more mainstream, vlogger-style oeuvre, expanding to activist feminism, JusReign’s output often remains more directly aimed at people like him: fluently bilingual and bicultural, but as a result, more niche.

Consider JusReign’s “Satinder Sartaaj Ratchet Tour 2013.” Sartaaj is a recently popular Punjabi folk singer, but one who also happens to have a PhD in musicology. His blending of high- and lowbrow has endeared him to Punjabi expats looking to feel both sophisticated and connected to the folk roots of the culture. JusReign’s video shows him playing Sartaaj reinterpreting hip-hop tracks as Punjabi folk — think Drake’s “Started From the Bottom” but in bhangra form. It is funny and on point, but demands at least some familiarity with Punjabi folk and American rap, as well as the flashy text and particular phrasing of the advertising used to promote Indian music concerts in North America, to make no mention of knowledge of Sartaaj himself. Perhaps even more so than Superwoman’s “Sh*t Punjabi Mothers Say,” it is aimed at not just immigrants or youths in general, but a specific identity that is equally at ease in two cultural traditions, both North Indian and North American. To invoke the cliché, JusReign has decided to stay weird, while Superwoman has gone mainstream.

In a long-bygone era, it would have been impossible to think of the contrast between Superwoman’s glossy, newly mainstream persona and JusReign’s cobbled-together immigrant shtick without invoking pairs of harshly binary judgements: Of selling out versus authenticity, of loyalty to a culture versus betrayal, of high-end versus lowbrow. JusReign himself often invokes the idea of the “coconut” in his videos — he who is “brown on the outside, but white on inside.” One who, to use JusReign’s phrasing, doesn’t know much about their own culture.

When you are a minority, it is no small thing to finally see yourself.

Yet in both their work and their identities, both Singhs themselves trouble the simple idea of a coconut. Each mark rap videos among their most popular, and both are constantly skittering along the surface of a hybrid identity, code-switching at will. Superwoman’s popular rap anthem “IVIVI” — Toronto’s most-used area code is 416 — is a love letter to not simply the city, but the fact that it is made up of people from all over. It’s hard not to see a kind of celebration of Superwoman herself in the song; that if the whole world has come to this city, it has produced identities that, like Lilly’s, are similarly kaleidoscopic. Even in the most firm insistence upon an identity, there is always something in flux, an emerging sense of culture that is, paradoxically, most clearly marked out by its inability to be pinned down. What does it mean to be young and an immigrant in the early 21st-century Canada? It means to be a mix of everything — or at least, that is the ostensible message of both Superwoman’s song and most of her work. If JusReign claims immigrants should know about their culture, both his own work and Superwoman’s demands the response: “Okay, but which culture is actually mine?”

The trouble for immigrant entertainers is that this hybrid fusion of cultures is often illegible, or perhaps ineligible, to a mainstream audience. While most conversations about multiculturalism have focused on what we share in common, what we do not — and maybe cannot — share has proven far more difficult. After all, the contrast between those two ideals — of diversity as inclusion in a universal mainstream, or multiculturalism as everyone ensconced in their own cultures — is framed by a stark fact: Superwoman is vastly more popular and successful than JusReign. It’s of course due to more than just the ideological underpinnings of their work. Superwoman puts out significantly more videos, has worked hard to connect with both celebrities like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Selena Gomezand other YouTube stars, and she has an endorsement deal with Smashbox cosmetics — where, fittingly, her line is called “Bawse” (that’s a phonetic spelling of boss, fellow olds). If she’s blowing up, it’s because she’s relentlessly hustled for it.

But fame is never simply a question of the inherent qualities of the famous. It’s also about what we as a public desire. Whether it’s Jennifer Lawrence’s carefully practiced, self-effacing charm, Kim Kardashian’s entirely unabashed celebration of her own body, or Channing Tatum’s cheeky, woke masculinity, celebrity is about what we want, magnified. Singh has built a career on broad relatability, but it is of that same hyper, celebrity kind. She is gregarious yet self-deprecating, funny yet often completely sincere. Her hustle, too, has itself become a key part of her appeal to a multiculti audience, a model of grit for a generation born to hard-working immigrants — and fittingly, is the topic of her upcoming book. Her popularity is in part due to her own appeal and determination, but also because, like all expressions of fame, hers is a canvas just blank enough where we can project our own desires for ourselves.

To be seen by those like you is to be rendered inscrutable to those who are different.

When I stood, holding a beer in a bar, listening to a poet talk about his Punjabi mother by the stove, I felt, if only for a second, whole. Not just seen, but part of a cultural fabric larger than myself. I stepped back onto the street, and that sense of being real, of actually existing to the world at large, evaporated like steam in winter air.

To be a minority in 21st-century North America is not simply to exist in a comfortable mixture, but is instead to be engaged in a constant dance. To be seen by those like you is to be rendered inscrutable to those who are different. You are thus constantly immersed in a process of translation, at times going on at length to explain to others that you aren’t that different, but at other moments struggling to explain you aren’t quite the same either. To be a bit glib, you are either Superwoman or JusReign — but you cannot be both at once.

Still, you don't want to give up and resign yourself to this paradox quite so easily. In Superwoman’s more recent videos, the star switched to a ring light to illuminate her shots, a popular type of lighting used by professional photographers and filmmakers. When used to light the YouTube-style, talk-to-the-camera genre of video, however, it has the strange, unintended effect of making her eyes look they are lit from within, a circle of white light punctuating her irises. Singh looks like she is wearing futuristic, cyborg contacts, like Kanye at the Met Gala, or a sci-fi video game character.

Most of us look out onto a cultural landscape hoping to see ourselves reflected. But if you are an immigrant or a minority, deep down you know that the public still belongs to the majority. If media is a mirror held up to society, Western society asks you to contort yourself in certain ways in order to be able to clearly see your reflection. No, not that side: Show us what we already understand.

Most of us look out onto a cultural landscape hoping to see ourselves reflected. But if you are an immigrant or a minority, deep down you know that the public still belongs to the majority.

Sometimes though, in those moments that YouTube still feels like the future rather than an ordinary part of the present, I watch Lilly Singh perform for her audience, her cyborg-like eyes darting around the frame, her manic comedy dragging in influence from a dizzying array of sources. Despite myself, in those moments what I often end up hoping is that, perhaps, she is looking somewhere down the road, either at a place or a time in which those harsh binaries — of minority and majority, of an ethnic niche and a white mainstream — start to soften a bit more. Perhaps over the horizon, some might see a North American culture that doesn’t define equality as everyone’s right to be the same, but instead isn’t so stubbornly, relentlessly, exhaustingly white.

This is possibly a foolish hope, but I hope nonetheless. Singh is, after all, called Superwoman. Like the other myths we choose to place our faith in, we imbue these larger-than-life figures with our desires for something better, for a world in which being a minority in the public sphere doesn’t always mean leaving part of yourself behind — that instead sets as its goal actually changing what constitutes the mainstream. And maybe even if Lilly herself can’t yet envision an ideal future in which that happens, perhaps those cyborg eyes can see something that the rest of us, no matter how hard we try, simply cannot yet.

]]>Navneet Alanghttps://www.buzzfeed.com/navneetalang/what-we-lose-when-poc-entertainers-crack-into-the-mainstreamThu, 18 Aug 2016 10:34:53 -0400How Lilly Singh's Superwoman and Jasmeet Singh's JusReign navigate between two worlds.navneetalangnonadult
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-08/17/10/asset/buzzfeed-prod-web08/sub-buzz-29908-1471443722-2.jpg?resize=720:556" width="720" height="556" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Rebecca Hendin / BuzzFeed</small></p>
<p><b>The first time</b> I felt like a real person, I was having a beer and listening to Canadian poet Rajinder S. Pal read from his book <i>Pulse</i>. Both were new experiences &mdash; I was in my mid-twenties and had only recently started drinking, as well as going to poetry readings &mdash; but it was Pal&rsquo;s words that were most revelatory. He spoke of watching his mother make <i>chapattis</i>, the rustling sounds of her chiffon <i>salwaar kameez</i>, her hands and sleeves stained with flour, a scene as mundane as it was intimate. A commonplace moment from my own life, watching my mother do the same hundreds of times, felt hidden from most of the culture I lived in. But in a pub in the southeast corner of downtown Toronto, I felt those two, disparate halves of my life &mdash; the Western and the Indian, a pint of amber lager and South Asian poetry &mdash; briefly fused.</p><p>It wasn&rsquo;t until many years later that I felt a similar rush of recognition, but this time, it was while watching Lilly Singh&rsquo;s video &ldquo;Sh*t Punjabi Mothers Say.&rdquo; Singh, better known as Superwoman, is of course the wildly popular YouTube star who rose to fame making <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFbtcXBd0A">comedy shorts</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S--NqtZH06o">rap videos</a>. From an Indian family in the sprawling, diverse Toronto municipality of Scarborough, Singh has become known for her gregarious, upbeat persona and humour that derives much of its pull from her status as a child of South Asian immigrants. Now, with more than 9 million YouTube subscribers, she&rsquo;s made the inevitable move from Toronto to Los Angeles and has landed parts in the upcoming <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4651520/"><i>Bad Moms</i></a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMENrdlKs6w"><i>Ice Age: Collision Course</i></a>, in addition to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZL4kF-QZSU">appearances</a> on <i>The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.</i> Her first <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFpPunTg8JY">book</a> will be published next March.</p>
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GLRuM8jWH2M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<p><small><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=GLRuM8jWH2M">youtube.com</a></small></p>
<p>&ldquo;Sh*t Punjabi Mothers Say&rdquo; is still one of Singh&rsquo;s more popular videos, with around 6.2 million views. She plays a cartoonish version of her own mother, going through the clich&eacute;s familiar to many Punjabis: idle threats of violence, the relentless questioning, all delivered in that particular Punjabi idiom. On its own it isn&rsquo;t much, just an acting out of common phrases. But it resonated for the same reason Pal&rsquo;s delicate verse cut so deeply: A feature of my own life missing from public view was suddenly made visible, the hidden intimacy of immigrant life now splashed onto the canvas of the world. When you are a minority, it is no small thing to finally see yourself.<br /></p>
<p>A feature of my own life missing from public view was suddenly made visible, the hidden intimacy of immigrant life now splashed onto the canvas of the world. </p>
<p>Now that Superwoman&rsquo;s career is taking off, however, it is also possible to detect a change in her recent YouTube videos. If &ldquo;Sh*t Punjabi Mothers Say&rdquo; was perhaps obscure to some viewers, pulling its humour from cultural specificity, then Singh&rsquo;s more recent work casts its net wider, evoking a sense of shared humanity despite difference. Popular topics this year have included &ldquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89GtWZ6mE-E">What School Actually Taught Me</a>,&rdquo; &ldquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqrKKjvJUgs">Every Argument With My Parents Ever</a>,&rdquo; and &ldquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqrKKjvJUgs">Types of Uber Drivers</a>&rdquo; &mdash; the kind of list videos that are a staple of YouTube personalities (and BuzzFeed&rsquo;s many channels, too). And why wouldn&rsquo;t they be? They are breezy fun and are full of the most important currency a YouTuber can possess: relatability. We don&rsquo;t all have Punjabi moms, but we can all relate to the minutiae of school, dating, or family.</p><p>Yet if Superwoman&rsquo;s transition from YouTube fame to the more mainstream sort &mdash; that distinction still holding for now &mdash; has rendered her more culturally specific work less relevant, less visible, it also suggests something about the limits of being a minority in a majority culture. While identity politics has sets its sights squarely on representation &mdash; on whether or not there are enough women or queer folk or people of colour in our media &mdash; the unspoken mirror image of that idea, however, is that it is just as difficult in North America to imagine a mainstream culture that isn&rsquo;t so overwhelmingly white <i>culturally</i>. It isn&rsquo;t just about who gets to be seen, but also what we consider shared, and it is always of one cultural tradition, one language. The pattern in which, for example, so-called ethnic food only becomes mainstream at the point that white people become aware of it is repeated in culture at large ad nauseam so that a minority or an immigrant only gets recognizably big at the point at that they become legible to a white mainstream. What is not comprehensible to a so-called norm &mdash; that is, the shit that Punjabi mothers say &mdash; has to be discarded in favour of what remains legible to more people. The bicultural are forever icebergs, only ever partially readable to those who don&rsquo;t share our mixture, containing obscured, untranslatable depths. The bind of the immigrant entertainer is always thus to speak to one&rsquo;s own or speak to the mainstream &mdash; and each entail a certain kind of loss.</p>
<p>The bind of the immigrant entertainer is always thus to speak to one&rsquo;s own or speak to the mainstream &mdash; and each entail a certain kind of loss.</p>
<p><b>It is hard to discuss</b> Superwoman&rsquo;s rapid ascent to fame without mention of that other brown, Sikh, Toronto-based YouTube star, Jasmeet Singh, better known as JusReign. Originally from Guelph, Ontario, JusReign, like Superwoman, rose to popularity on comedy videos that play off the tropes of being a child of immigrants: South Asian <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-etWXH7R5sI">house parties</a> in the suburbs, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LOhWqD5QnE">Punjabi uncles discussing politics</a>, or the slightly more pointed &ldquo;Brown People Try White People Food.&rdquo;<br /></p>
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qo2b531x4H4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<p><small><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qo2b531x4H4">youtube.com</a></small></p>
<p>Though both personalities have uncanny senses of comic timing, and each play off and critique cultural stereotypes, in many ways JusReign is a mirror image of Superwoman, similar but reversed. Where she is from East Toronto &mdash; incredibly diverse, but in which whites are still the most populous group &mdash; he blew up in the city&rsquo;s western suburb of Brampton, where South Asians form the largest single ethnicity. Where Superwoman is Hollywood pretty and relentlessly professional, JusReign is ordinary and has an off-kilter, occasionally unhinged style. And where Superwoman has begun to shift her repertoire toward a more mainstream, vlogger-style oeuvre, expanding to <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/imaansheikh/girl-love?utm_term=.npyl5ZyBXn#.vyvp2VADk4">activist feminism</a>, JusReign&rsquo;s output often remains more directly aimed at people like him: fluently bilingual and bicultural, but as a result, more niche.</p><p>Consider JusReign&rsquo;s &ldquo;Satinder Sartaaj Ratchet Tour 2013.&rdquo; Sartaaj is a recently popular Punjabi folk singer, but one who also happens to have a PhD in musicology. His blending of high- and lowbrow has endeared him to Punjabi expats looking to feel both sophisticated and connected to the folk roots of the culture. JusReign&rsquo;s video shows him playing Sartaaj reinterpreting hip-hop tracks as Punjabi folk &mdash; think Drake&rsquo;s &ldquo;Started From the Bottom&rdquo; but in bhangra form. It is funny and on point, but demands at least some familiarity with Punjabi folk and American rap, as well as the flashy text and particular phrasing of the advertising used to promote Indian music concerts in North America, to make no mention of knowledge of Sartaaj himself. Perhaps even more so than Superwoman&rsquo;s &ldquo;Sh*t Punjabi Mothers Say,&rdquo; it is aimed at not just immigrants or youths in general, but a specific identity that is equally at ease in two cultural traditions, both North Indian and North American. To invoke the clich&eacute;, JusReign has decided to stay weird, while Superwoman has gone mainstream.</p>
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/41TB7z5O-0U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<p><small><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=41TB7z5O-0U">youtube.com</a></small></p>
<p>In a long-bygone era, it would have been impossible to think of the contrast between Superwoman&rsquo;s glossy, newly mainstream persona and JusReign&rsquo;s cobbled-together immigrant shtick without invoking pairs of harshly binary judgements: Of selling out versus authenticity, of loyalty to a culture versus betrayal, of high-end versus lowbrow. JusReign himself often invokes the idea of the &ldquo;coconut&rdquo; in his videos &mdash; he who is &ldquo;brown on the outside, but white on inside.&rdquo; One who, to use JusReign&rsquo;s phrasing, doesn&rsquo;t know much about their own culture.<br /></p>
<p>When you are a minority, it is no small thing to finally see yourself.</p>
<p>Yet in both their work and their identities, both Singhs themselves trouble the simple idea of a coconut. Each mark rap videos among their most popular, and both are constantly skittering along the surface of a hybrid identity, code-switching at will. Superwoman&rsquo;s popular rap anthem &ldquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lmyS8J8Keo">IVIVI</a>&rdquo; &mdash; Toronto&rsquo;s most-used area code is 416 &mdash; is a love letter to not simply the city, but the fact that it is made up of people from all over. It&rsquo;s hard not to see a kind of celebration of Superwoman herself in the song; that if the whole world has come to this city, it has produced identities that, like Lilly&rsquo;s, are similarly kaleidoscopic. Even in the most firm insistence upon an identity, there is always something in flux, an emerging sense of culture that is, paradoxically, most clearly marked out by its inability to be pinned down. What does it mean to be young and an immigrant in the early 21st-century Canada? It means to be a mix of everything &mdash; or at least, that is the ostensible message of both Superwoman&rsquo;s song and most of her work. If JusReign claims immigrants should know about their culture, both his own work and Superwoman&rsquo;s demands the response: &ldquo;Okay, but which culture is actually mine?&rdquo;</p><p>The trouble for immigrant entertainers is that this hybrid fusion of cultures is often illegible, or perhaps ineligible, to a mainstream audience. While most conversations about multiculturalism have focused on what we share in common, what we do not &mdash; and maybe cannot &mdash; share has proven far more difficult. After all, the contrast between those two ideals &mdash; of diversity as inclusion in a universal mainstream, or multiculturalism as everyone ensconced in their own cultures &mdash; is framed by a stark fact: Superwoman is vastly more popular and successful than JusReign. It&rsquo;s of course due to more than just the ideological underpinnings of their work. Superwoman puts out significantly more videos, has worked hard to connect with both celebrities like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkFhwlRZwf4">Dwayne &ldquo;The Rock&rdquo; Johnson</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQxX8zgyzuM">Selena Gomez</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQxX8zgyzuM">and other YouTube stars,</a> and she has an endorsement deal with Smashbox cosmetics &mdash; where, fittingly, her line is called &ldquo;Bawse&rdquo; (that&rsquo;s a phonetic spelling of boss, fellow olds). If she&rsquo;s blowing up, it&rsquo;s because she&rsquo;s relentlessly hustled for it.</p><p>But fame is never simply a question of the inherent qualities of the famous. It&rsquo;s also about what we as a public desire. Whether it&rsquo;s Jennifer Lawrence&rsquo;s carefully practiced, self-effacing charm, Kim Kardashian&rsquo;s entirely unabashed celebration of her own body, or Channing Tatum&rsquo;s cheeky, woke masculinity, celebrity is about what we want, magnified. Singh has built a career on broad relatability, but it is of that same hyper, celebrity kind. She is gregarious yet self-deprecating, funny yet often completely sincere. Her hustle, too, has itself become a key part of her appeal to a multiculti audience, a model of grit for a generation born to hard-working immigrants &mdash; and fittingly, is the topic of her upcoming book. Her popularity is in part due to her own appeal and determination, but also because, like all expressions of fame, hers is a canvas just blank enough where we can project our own desires for ourselves.</p>
<p>To be seen by those like you is to be rendered inscrutable to those who are different.</p>
<p><b>When I stood</b>, holding a beer in a bar, listening to a poet talk about his Punjabi mother by the stove, I felt, if only for a second, whole. Not just seen, but part of a cultural fabric larger than myself. I stepped back onto the street, and that sense of being real, of actually existing to the world at large, evaporated like steam in winter air.<br /></p><p>To be a minority in 21st-century North America is not simply to exist in a comfortable mixture, but is instead to be engaged in a constant dance. To be seen by those like you is to be rendered inscrutable to those who are different. You are thus constantly immersed in a process of translation, at times going on at length to explain to others that you aren&rsquo;t that different, but at other moments struggling to explain you aren&rsquo;t quite the same either. To be a bit glib, you are either Superwoman or JusReign &mdash; but you cannot be both at once.</p><p>Still, you don&#39;t want to give up and resign yourself to this paradox quite so easily. In Superwoman&rsquo;s more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89GtWZ6mE-E">recent videos</a>, the star switched to a ring light to illuminate her shots, a popular type of lighting used by professional photographers and filmmakers. When used to light the YouTube-style, talk-to-the-camera genre of video, however, it has the strange, unintended effect of making her eyes look they are lit from within, a circle of white light punctuating her irises. Singh looks like she is wearing futuristic, cyborg contacts, like <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7350482/kanye-west-blue-eyes-met-world-reacts">Kanye at the Met Gala</a>, or <a href="http://wallpoper.com/images/00/26/67/53/illusive-man_00266753.jpg">a sci-fi video game character</a>.</p><p>Most of us look out onto a cultural landscape hoping to see ourselves reflected. But if you are an immigrant or a minority, deep down you know that the public still belongs to the majority. If media is a mirror held up to society, Western society asks you to contort yourself in certain ways in order to be able to clearly see your reflection. No, not that side: Show us what we already understand.</p>
<p> Most of us look out onto a cultural landscape hoping to see ourselves reflected. But if you are an immigrant or a minority, deep down you know that the public still belongs to the majority.</p>
<p>Sometimes though, in those moments that YouTube still feels like the future rather than an ordinary part of the present, I watch Lilly Singh perform for her audience, her cyborg-like eyes darting around the frame, her manic comedy dragging in influence from a dizzying array of sources. Despite myself, in those moments what I often end up hoping is that, perhaps, she is looking somewhere down the road, either at a place or a time in which those harsh binaries &mdash; of minority and majority, of an ethnic niche and a white mainstream &mdash; start to soften a bit more. Perhaps over the horizon, some might see a North American culture that doesn&rsquo;t define equality as everyone&rsquo;s right to be the same, but instead isn&rsquo;t so stubbornly, relentlessly, exhaustingly white.</p><p>This is possibly a foolish hope, but I hope nonetheless. Singh is, after all, called Superwoman. Like the other myths we choose to place our faith in, we imbue these larger-than-life figures with our desires for something better, for a world in which being a minority in the public sphere doesn&rsquo;t always mean leaving part of yourself behind &mdash; that instead sets as its goal actually changing what constitutes the mainstream. And maybe even if Lilly herself can&rsquo;t yet envision an ideal future in which that happens, perhaps those cyborg eyes can see something that the rest of us, no matter how hard we try, simply cannot yet.</p>
<p><small></small></p>
nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultA feature of my own life missing from public view was suddenly made visible, the hidden intimacy of immigrant life now splashed onto the canvas of the world.&nbsp;nonadultThe bind of the immigrant entertainer is always thus to speak to one’s own or speak to the mainstream — and each entail a certain kind of loss.nonadultTo be seen by those like you is to be rendered inscrutable to those who are different.nonadult&nbsp;Most of us look out onto a cultural landscape hoping to see ourselves reflected. But if you are an immigrant or a minority, deep down you know that the public still belongs to the majority.nonadultWhen you are a minority, it is no small thing to finally see yourself.nonadult15 Times Zoe Sugg Was Your Absolute Favorite Person On Earthhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/juliannagarofalo/15-times-zoe-sugg-was-goals-in-every-single-way-20ifu?utm_term=4ldqpia
A true ~girl online~ to look up to.

When she channeled her inner Sid The Sloth:

When she admitted to having a serious pizza addiction:

And, of course, when she looked like an actual fairy princess:

]]>Julianna Garofalohttps://www.buzzfeed.com/juliannagarofalo/15-times-zoe-sugg-was-goals-in-every-single-way-20ifuSun, 12 Jun 2016 03:28:54 -0400A true ~girl online~ to look up to.juliannagarofalononadultnonadultnonadultnonadultComplete with Pug-shaped cookies and dog-friendly PUPcakes.nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultZALFIE 4 LYFE!!!nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultCan You Identify The YouTuber By An Anagram Of Their Name?https://www.buzzfeed.com/rabbithugs/can-you-identify-these-youtubers-by-an-anagram-of-289bm?utm_term=4ldqpia
Let’s see how obsessed you really are.

As part of its filing, the retailer listed the top 20 people and companies it owes money to. Number six on the list was YouTube star Bethany Mota, who is owed $500,000.

Jason Merritt / Getty Images

It's a lot of money, and a reminder of just how much cash social media stars like Mota can make when they partner with established brands. Aéropostale owes more money to Mota than it does to major shopping center owners like General Growth Properties and Taubman, the filing shows.

And the $500,000 is just what Mota is still owed — it doesn't include whatever the company has already paid her.

Last month Mota released her final clothing collection with Aéropostale. She launched the first one in December 2013. Mota has 10 million subscribers to her YouTube channel, more than 5 million followers on Instagram, and more than 2.5 million followers on Twitter.

Business Insider estimated in 2014 that Mota may make $40,000 a month from her YouTube videos, citing sources familiar with YouTube advertising. She got her rise from shopper haul videos, which are massively popular on YouTube.Mota's business manager, listed in the bankruptcy filing, didn't immediately return a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.

From Aeropostale's bankruptcy filing.

Aéropostale's bankruptcy doesn't mean the chain is going away. The company said it plans to close 154 of its roughly 800 stores — about 20% — including all its locations in Canada.

It may close additional stores as it works to restructure itself.

Aéropostale CFO David Dick said in the filings that the company had "generally been profitable" in the past 30 years, but deteriorated recently due to "declining mall traffic, a highly promotional and competitive teen retail environment, and a shift in customer demand away from apparel to technology and personal experiences."

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

The company said liquidation sales for most of its closing stores will start on or about Friday, May 6, and take six to eight weeks. Here are the stores it expects to close, as per the filings.

]]>Sapna Maheshwarihttps://www.buzzfeed.com/sapna/bankrupt-aeropostale-owes-500000-to-youtube-star-bethany-motWed, 04 May 2016 15:48:36 -0400The 20-year-old social media celebrity showed up as No. 6 on a list of people and companies owed money by the bankrupt teen retailer.sapnanonadult
<h1>Aéropostale <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/aeropostale-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-1462339757">filed</a> for bankruptcy Wednesday in New York.</h1>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/12/enhanced/webdr13/enhanced-buzz-15358-1462377815-7.jpg" width="720" height="466" alt="Aéropostale filed for bankruptcy Wednesday in New York." /></p>
<p><small>Rick Wilking / Reuters</small></p>
<h1>As part of its filing, the retailer listed the top 20 people and companies it owes money to. Number six on the list was YouTube star Bethany Mota, who is owed $500,000.</h1>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/12/enhanced/webdr04/edit-22812-1462380718-5.jpg" width="658" height="783" alt="As part of its filing, the retailer listed the top 20 people and companies it owes money to. Number six on the list was YouTube star Bethany Mota, who is owed $500,000." /></p>
<p><small>Jason Merritt / Getty Images</small></p>
<h2>It&#39;s a lot of money, and a reminder of just how much cash social media stars like Mota can make when they partner with established brands. A&eacute;ropostale owes more money to Mota than it does to major shopping center owners like General Growth Properties and Taubman, the filing shows.</h2><h2>And the $500,000 is just what Mota is still owed &mdash; it doesn&#39;t include whatever the company has already paid her.</h2>
<h1>Last month Mota released her final clothing collection with Aéropostale. She launched the first one in <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aeropostale-launches-exclusive-collection-with-bethany-mota-234774721.html">December 2013</a>. Mota has 10 million subscribers to her YouTube channel, more than 5 million followers on Instagram, and more than 2.5 million followers on Twitter.</h1>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/12/enhanced/webdr05/enhanced-mid-8404-1462381128-1.png" width="720" height="516" alt="Last month Mota released her final clothing collection with Aéropostale. She launched the first one in December 2013. Mota has 10 million subscribers to her YouTube channel, more than 5 million followers on Instagram, and more than 2.5 million followers on Twitter." /></p>
<p><small><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://instagram.com/p/BDuO_t5J7ur/#author_bethanynoelm">Instagram: @bethanynoelm</a></small></p>
<h2><i>Business Insider</i> estimated in 2014 that Mota <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/haul-teenage-youtube-shopping-star-bethany-mota-2014-1">may make</a> $40,000 a month from her YouTube videos, citing sources familiar with YouTube advertising. She got her rise from shopper haul videos, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/sapna/youtube-shopper-haul-videos-have-more-combined-views-than-ga?utm_term=.tp0QYL6KW#.tcQjxkEZ3">which are</a> massively popular on YouTube.<br />Mota&#39;s business manager, listed in the bankruptcy filing, didn&#39;t immediately return a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.</h2>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/14/enhanced/webdr06/enhanced-mid-29635-1462386417-2.png" width="720" height="111" alt="" /></p>
<p>From Aeropostale&#39;s bankruptcy filing.</p>
<p><small></small></p>
<h1>Aéropostale's bankruptcy doesn't mean the chain is going away. The company said it plans to close 154 of its roughly 800 stores — about 20% — including all its locations in Canada.</h1>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/12/enhanced/webdr13/enhanced-mid-15395-1462378571-7.png" width="720" height="394" alt="Aéropostale's bankruptcy doesn't mean the chain is going away. The company said it plans to close 154 of its roughly 800 stores — about 20% — including all its locations in Canada." /></p>
<p><small>Aeropostale / Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://Aeropostale.com">Aeropostale.com</a></small></p>
<h2>It may close additional stores as it works to restructure itself.</h2>
<h1>Aéropostale CFO David Dick said in the filings that the company had "generally been profitable" in the past 30 years, but deteriorated recently due to "declining mall traffic, a highly promotional and competitive teen retail environment, and a shift in customer demand away from apparel to technology and personal experiences."</h1>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/12/enhanced/webdr12/enhanced-buzz-5545-1462379143-7.jpg" width="720" height="480" alt="Aéropostale CFO David Dick said in the filings that the company had &quot;generally been profitable&quot; in the past 30 years, but deteriorated recently due to &quot;declining mall traffic, a highly promotional and competitive teen retail environment, and a shift in customer demand away from apparel to technology and personal experiences.&quot;" /></p>
<p><small>Lucas Jackson / Reuters</small></p>
<h2><br /></h2>
<h1>The company said liquidation sales for most of its closing stores will start on or about Friday, May 6, and take six to eight weeks. Here are the stores it expects to close, as per the filings.</h1>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/14/enhanced/webdr07/enhanced-mid-31429-1462385385-2.png" width="720" height="831" alt="The company said liquidation sales for most of its closing stores will start on or about Friday, May 6, and take six to eight weeks. Here are the stores it expects to close, as per the filings." /></p>
<p><small>Aeropostale bankruptcy filings / Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://pacer.gov">pacer.gov</a></small></p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/14/enhanced/webdr01/enhanced-mid-2043-1462385405-13.png" width="720" height="864" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Aeropostale bankruptcy filings / Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://pacer.gov">pacer.gov</a></small></p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/14/enhanced/webdr14/enhanced-mid-7821-1462385439-2.png" width="720" height="846" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Aeropostale bankruptcy filings / Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://pacer.gov">pacer.gov</a></small></p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/14/enhanced/webdr14/enhanced-mid-7093-1462385465-13.png" width="720" height="839" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Aeropostale bankruptcy filings / Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://pacer.gov">pacer.gov</a></small></p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/4/14/enhanced/webdr01/enhanced-mid-1925-1462385494-1.png" width="720" height="804" alt="" /></p>
<p><small>Aeropostale bankruptcy filings / Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://pacer.gov">pacer.gov</a></small></p>
<h1><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/sapna/aeropostale-may-file-for-bankruptcy-this-week?utm_term=.fkD6klK1L#.vsyVyQg7w">Aeropostale May File For Bankruptcy This Week</a></h1>
<p><small></small></p>
nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadult20 Times Mamrie Hart Was Just Too Damn Funnyhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/towens/20-times-mamrie-hart-was-the-funniest-person-in-th-1gwit?utm_term=4ldqpia
She’s an actual queen.

When she didn't care.

When she set attainable goals.

And when she was the raddest of them all.

]]>Taylor Owenshttps://www.buzzfeed.com/towens/20-times-mamrie-hart-was-the-funniest-person-in-th-1gwitSat, 30 Jan 2016 00:48:39 -0500She's an actual queen.towensnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultWe Know How Addicted You Are To Social Media Based On One Questionhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/oliviagaynor/we-know-how-addicted-you-are-to-social-media-based-1o7k0?utm_term=4ldqpia
Haters, back off!

]]>Olivia Gaynorhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/oliviagaynor/we-know-how-addicted-you-are-to-social-media-based-1o7k0Sat, 07 Nov 2015 08:50:41 -0500Haters, back off!oliviagaynornonadultnonadultHow Many Of These Books By YouTube Stars Have You Read?https://www.buzzfeed.com/keycat/how-many-of-these-books-by-youtube-stars-have-you-1thh7?utm_term=4ldqpia
You’ve watched them, but have you read them?

]]>KeyCathttps://www.buzzfeed.com/keycat/how-many-of-these-books-by-youtube-stars-have-you-1thh7Fri, 16 Oct 2015 16:37:03 -0400You've watched them, but have you read them?keycatnonadultnonadultnonadult17 YouTube Channels That Will Teach You A Damn Thinghttps://www.buzzfeed.com/laurenpaul/youtube-channels-that-are-better-than-school?utm_term=4ldqpia
Where were these when you were in school?

The Nerdwriter's video essays are all about "cultivating a worldview" through the art we create and observe. If you'd like to get a little more educated about movies and paintings but don't care for pretentious jerks, this is a great place to start.

What You'll Learn: Quick, fun summaries about the physical and social building blocks of life.

In A Nutshell (aka Kurzgesagt) attempts to explain our weird little existence in about six minutes or less. The videos are wonderfully animated and cover topics like evolution, space, and global energy.

Tony Zhou is a badass editor with an eye for film. He takes pictures and sound to a whole level, revealing themes and techniques about movies you've seen a hundred times, as well as lesser-known art house flicks you should definitely check out.

What You'll Learn: Easy-to-follow magic tricks and pranks that will impress everyone.

Award-winning magician Brian Brushwood shows you his best bar tricks, cons, pranks and scams. These are not your grandpa's party tricks, and if you stack up your bar bets right, you may never have to pay for another drink again.

What You'll Learn: How to cook delicious Italian recipes and indulgent deserts.

Whether you're a cooking n00b or a seasoned chef, Laura has some awesome recipes that are adaptable to all kinds of kitchens and resources. Her steps make it easy to follow, and you can get even more tips on her website.

This channel firmly believes that "if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." These folks actually manage to reduce what took your Physics professor half a semester to teach to just a couple minutes.

What You'll Learn: Answers to big questions and random facts that have plagued you your whole life.

The YouTube channel of the magazine, this is where you should study up before your next bar trivia night. A random, interesting, and often surprising collection of knowledge that any trivia junkie will love.

What You'll Learn: How to do yoga at your own pace in a way that feels good for you.

You know yoga is good for you, but trying classes that tell you to "release your hips" and "sync your breath" can be intimidating and confusing. Thankfully Adriene is super down-to-earth, allowing you to get flexible and centered from the comfort of home.

What You'll Learn: Way more fun and consolidated versions of all your high school classes.

Hosted by the Brothers Green and other YouTube stars, this channel is like retaking high school with internet celebs and hilarious graphics. Super informative and easy to follow, these crash courses will make you better at petty much everything.

What You'll Learn: How math can help you do literally anything more efficiently.

Did you know there are illegal numbers? Or that math can help you win at Rocks, Paper, Scissors or cut a cake better? If you had known this back in school–or had videos this entertaining–you might have actually paid attention!

What You'll Learn: Quick, straightforward workouts for every fitness level and equipment setup under the sun.

No annoyingly peppy or ridiculously complicated workouts here: Just easy-to-follow full-length workout videos, with a new one every week. It's also great knowing they're not sponsored or anything; they're just in it to help you break a sweat.

What You'll Learn: Original cocktails inspired by pop culture celebs and happenings.

Not only are these cocktails delicious, but they're totally original and usually feature funky flavor combos. Host Mamrie often invites equally hilarious friends to join her for a drink, and there's a drinking game built into every episode, so come prepared.

What You'll Learn: The basics and techniques of woodworking applied to some projects you can actually use.

Steve is probably the most enthusiastic carpenter you'll ever encounter, and he really makes you believe you can build anything. His tips and instructions are so thorough and well-diagramed that you'll be building shelves and beds in no time.

]]>Lauren Paulhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/laurenpaul/youtube-channels-that-are-better-than-schoolSat, 03 Oct 2015 11:03:13 -0400Where were these when you were in school?laurenpaulnonadultAre You More Miranda Lambert Or Miranda Sings?https://www.buzzfeed.com/johnnyd4871e1848/are-you-more-miranda-sings-or-miranda-lambert-wl7y?utm_term=4ldqpia
Are you YouTube royalty or country royalty?

]]>Johnny Donovanhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/johnnyd4871e1848/are-you-more-miranda-sings-or-miranda-lambert-wl7ySat, 19 Sep 2015 12:19:14 -0400Are you YouTube royalty or country royalty?johnnyd4871e1848nonadultnonadultHow Well Do You Know The Teen Internet?https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/how-much-of-an-internet-teen-are-you?utm_term=4ldqpia
We all have a little teen inside of us, yearning to break free. How big is your teen?

]]>Katie Notopouloshttps://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/how-much-of-an-internet-teen-are-youTue, 08 Sep 2015 20:15:29 -0400We all have a little teen inside of us, yearning to break free. How big is your teen?katienotopoulosnonadultnonadultThe Unbreakable Rebecca Blackhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/reggieugwu/the-unbreakable-rebecca-black?utm_term=4ldqpia
Rebecca Black just turned 18 and she’s forgotten how to flirt. It’s a problem. She might be at a party in a circle of friends, all of them egging her on, with an attractive and available-seeming (but not too available) guy standing just across the room, almost within earshot, occasionally stealing glances at her between sips from a perspiring Solo cup. But if Black actually tries to talk to this guy, even if he’s perfectly nice and funny, even if he compliments her wavy brown mermaid hair and natural California-king smile, she will inevitably freeze or, worse, say something that will make her want to bury her head in her hands and vanish into a pillowy wisp of smoke, Harry Potter-style.

It’s not that she’s not used to attention from guys — she is. They come up to her at the flea market or sometimes on the street, decent and smiling in a way that makes her daydream. But it’s what happens shortly after, once the small talk has gone limp, or maybe a few days later over text, that has caused her to put a moratorium on engaging with strange men altogether. “You look really familiar,” they’ll say, just like you would if you were in their shoes. “Do I know you from somewhere?”

“And then it will click and that will be it,” Black says, venting in a cheap French bistro in West L.A. “It sucks.” Her usually sunny demeanor dims slightly and she averts her big brown eyes, hesitating momentarily as if fondling the keys that launch the nukes. “Their whole attitude will change, or they’ll get really shy. I think it’s really intimidating for a lot of people, but I don’t know why. It’s not like I’m Selena Gomez or something. I’m a pretty nice, normal person.”

Nice? Totally. But normal? That’s more complicated. Everyone remembers Rebecca Black. More than four years ago, when she was 13 and zealously Auto-Tuned, beaming directly into the camera and sing-talking a diabolically mindless and improbably innocent ode to the weekend, she was inescapable. The video for her song “Friday,” which was written and produced for Black by the now-defunct vanity production company ARK Music Factory as a gift from her mother, became the fastest-spreading amateur viral video of all time when it was released in 2011, drawing more than 100 million views in just over 30 days.

You remember it. Girl wakes up in bed with comically out-of-control frizz, girl has manic craving for cereal, girl faces an unexpectedly crippling dilemma over “kickin’ in the front seat” or “sittin’ in the backseat,” girl climactically lists the days of the week. The lyrics of the song, staged in the video with fanatical literalism, took pop music’s tendency to amplify only the most common human experiences to brazen extremes, until their content bore all the conceptual nuance of a Fisher-Price See ’N Say. Patrice Wilson, the founder of ARK, who delivers a bewildering rap verse in the video, said at the time that he wanted to write a song that “was really simple but something that sticks in people's head. To have people say, 'I hate this song, but I'm still singing it.’” The successful result sounds like someone having a really fun stroke.

Black and her mother, Georgina Marquez, say the video for “Friday” was never supposed to be made public, and instead was meant for sharing among friends and family, like glamour shots or a wedding video. But ARK posted “Friday” to its YouTube page, where it was eventually picked up by early viral content portal The Daily What and the blog of comedian Daniel Tosh’s Comedy Central show Tosh.0 (the latter headlining its post simply “Songwriting Isn’t For Everyone”).

Reaction was swift and predictably ruthless. As the view count ticked into the millions, laughing at “Friday” became a national pastime, an instant mood-booster for restless cubicle dwellers, and the perfect foil for armchair music critics bemoaning the downfall of songcraft in the Auto-Tune era. Dubbed “The Worst Song Ever” by a rare consensus of people with two ears and a broadband connection, it was covered by Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert on Late Night, and by the kids of Glee. Black herself, then in eighth grade, went on a major talk show tour, appearing on Good Morning America, MTV, On Air With Ryan Seacrest, and The Tonight Show, where she wore a cardigan with hearts on it and commiserated about bad reviews with Bradley Cooper.

Maybe more than any other 18-year-old alive, Black is all of our anxieties about oversharing online made flesh: the fact that more than 350 million photos are shared to Facebook each day and 300-plus hours of video hit YouTube every minute; the nagging sense that kids born into a world where social networking exists are worse off — when it comes to college applications, job prospects, romantic relationships. For most of us, these fears are as vague as they are persistent, a concern filed somewhere in the back of the brain near jury duty and gum disease. But for Black they’re reality. And, as luck would have it, her overexposure came just moments too soon in the history of the viral video industrial complex to translate into anything resembling a sustainable career. When it comes to making traumatic first impressions on the internet, Black is patient zero.

At the peak of "Friday"-mania, however, a frenzied few weeks in the spring of 2011, Black was almost surprisingly good-humored and cheerful about her notoriety in interviews. In a GMA segment, she smiled while recounting death threats and gamely sang the national anthem in support of a modest claim that, sans Auto-Tune, she did actually have “talent on some level.” If she was a laughingstock, she seemed in on the joke, later filming a Funny or Die video in which she explained that “Friday” was really a veiled critique of America’s foreign and economic policies.

Black on Good Morning America.

ABC.

Black hired a high-powered manager, on recommendation from Seacrest and others, but a handful of follow-up songs and videos debuted to diminishing returns. Eventually, the country’s fascination with her and “Friday” fizzled, as it was destined to even before it began. By the time she was offered a dream cameo as Katy Perry’s BFF in the video for Perry’s hit “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” that June, Black already felt like a dated pop culture reference. She took her place on the Mount Rushmore of weird internet stars: Tay Zonday, Chris Crocker, Double Rainbow guy, Rebecca Black. She was 14.

On a golden recent afternoon in Culver City, Black is furniture shopping in one of those dimly lit, cavernous galleries that make $475 fur dining chairs seem like a good idea. Wearing an oversize blue-and-white patchwork plaid button-down, shredded denim shorts with the pocket pouches exposed, and white sneakers, she’s more mature than you remember her, with a noticeably deeper, lisp-free voice and emerging bone structure where a baby face used to be. With olive skin, long dark hair, and the kind of lips that start flame wars on celebrity gossip blogs, she could be a Kardashian who failed to inherit the vamp gene.

In a week, Black will move out of her mother’s house in Orange County and into her first apartment in Brentwood, most known as the affluent neighborhood where O.J. used to live, but now, thanks in part to its adjacency to the multichannel network AwesomenessTV, is earning a reputation as home to a growing number of YouTube stars too young to remember the Bronco. Three weeks ago, she graduated from Villa Park High School, where she transferred after two tumultuous years of being homeschooled as collateral for pursuing music. And just two days ago, she celebrated her 18th birthday with sushi at Nobu, chasing a night out with a pair of miraculously tasteful tattoos the morning after — three vertical dots on both middle fingers — her first.

Bold manicure, modest tattoos.

Joyce Lee for BuzzFeed News

Black spies an angular wooden dining table she likes and flings extravagant, forest-green nails at her cell phone to send a pic to her friend and future roommate Andrew Lowe, whom she met through YouTube. Today Black has over a million subscribers on the platform, almost all of them her age and younger, where she posts silly weekly videos and answers questions about how to navigate school drama, how to be a better friend, and what to do about bullying.

“Even with my friends, I've always been the one that will help them out with situations,” Black says. “People can vent to me all day; I’ll listen to it.”

When “Friday” exploded, the YouTube community was a dubious ally — a source of more snark and vitriol than moral support; but now it’s home. Black’s life revolves around the platform — her entire friend group, amassed online and at annual gatherings like VidCon, consists of fellow YouTube stars, including ThatSoJack (1.2 million subscribers) and JennxPenn (2 million subscribers, a book deal, and a new movie) — where she’s regarded as something of a grizzled veteran. In Black’s story, middle and high school–age kids enmeshed in the unlovely “before” phase of life see a survivor and a role model, someone who lived through a social media nightmare of epic proportions and managed to emerge unbroken.

She almost didn’t make it through. When Black was in eighth grade and the fastest-rising search term in the world, the highs were so dizzying and surreal that she could scarcely wrap her head around them. For a girl like her — a dancer and singer from the time she was 3 years old, a ham in the local youth choir and school plays who could sit in front of the TV watching Hannah Montana and American Idol for hours — “Friday” had all the markers of a godsend. Suddenly Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers knew her name. Lady Gaga — then at the height of her incendiary powers — called her a genius.

But, like a wish granted by dark forces, what should have been a dream world had been warped from its inception. In school, Black became radioactive and lost almost all of her friends due to “Friday.” “I couldn’t really relate to what my friends were going through anymore, and they couldn’t really relate to me, either,” she says. When requests for appearances and interviews started to overwhelm her schedule and sink her grades, she pulled out of school entirely and switched to online courses at home, just weeks before the end of the school year.

Part of the reason Black was able to smile on camera through the “Friday” debacle was because she had learned previously how cruel people could be, and how that cruelty always said more about the afflicters than the afflicted. Near her 12th birthday, two years before she would become the butt of a million jokes on the internet, she had been forced to change schools due to what her mom describes as severe bullying from “mean girls.”

When she first saw the callous tenor of the response to “Friday” online (sample comment: “I hope you cut yourself and die”), Black’s mom, understandably, asked Black if she wanted to take the video down and withdraw from the unsparing scrutiny of the web. But Black surprised her by protesting the suggestion, calling it insulting.

“She said, ‘No, it's my right to have my video up there. Why should I have to take my video down?’" Marquez recalls. “And that was the moment that did it for me. From that point on I was like, You go, girl. We got this."

“I’ve always had a pretty thick skin — that’s just how I am,” Black adds. “When I get nervous, or uncomfortable or sad, I just try and make light out of it and laugh.”

Even more intractable than haters online were the machinations of the popular music industry. Black’s mother paid $4,000 in two installments to ARK Music Factory to produce “Friday” (she says claims in the media about her family’s wealth are overblown), hoping the experience would give her only daughter a sampling of what it would be like to pursue her dreams of pop stardom. When, incredibly, that sampling turned into a gorge, Black and her family reoriented themselves to try to make the most out of the opportunity.

Black’s parents, both veterinarians, knew little of the entertainment business, so they hired veteran talent manager Debra Baum, whose previous clients had included Paula Abdul and Tears for Fears. Baum immediately set out to capitalize on the momentum of “Friday,” fielding press and business inquiries and pursuing a deal to record an album. On the latter front, meeting Perry proved instrumental: The pop superstar introduced Black to key industry contacts after they worked together on the set of “Last Friday Night.” In the spring and summer of 2011, Black says she entered into serious discussions with several major labels.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Black and ARK began to sour. She and her mother got into a legal dispute with Patrice Wilson and his partner Clarence Jey over control of the master recordings of “Friday” and its video, which, having just crossed 165 million views on YouTube, was generating large sums in royalties. After ARK put up a paywall in June 2011 requiring users to pay a $2.99 rental fee to view “Friday” in lieu of standard preroll ads, Black’s family successfully petitioned to have the video pulled from the platform altogether. Wilson didn’t respond to requests to comment for this story, but Jey, via email, denied the accusations that ARK illegally withheld the “Friday” masters and said he wasn’t involved in imposing the rental fee.

“I have no idea why or who [put up the paywall], as I was not managing the YouTube channel,” Jey said. “It was very random, perhaps experimental, and, in my opinion, silly.”

Eventually, the two parties reached an agreement in which Black owns both the video and the song recording, and Wilson and Jey receive a minority percentage of royalties from both as the songwriters. Black reposted “Friday” to her own channel in September 2011, where it was once again free to view, with the caveat that the view count had to be reset to zero. By YouTube’s estimate, cumulative views for “Friday” today would be upwards of 250 million.

By the time the video resurfaced, however, Black had other problems. After months of promising negotiations with a major label she declines to name, she was just a day away from an in-person meeting to sign papers when she got a call that the label was choosing not to move forward. She felt the wind go out of her. “We didn’t know how volatile the entertainment industry is,” Black’s mother says now. “That people can just pull the plug on things last minute.” To this day, Black isn’t sure exactly why things fell apart (the official excuse was executive turnover), but at the time viral stars — even those without baggage like hers — were still considered to occupy a lower caste than those produced by the industry.

Had it been released today, “Friday” almost certainly would have gone to No. 1 on Billboard’s flagship singles chart the Hot 100 (which began counting YouTube streams in its formula in 2013), a distinction that, for an unsigned artist, would have made a recording contract a foregone conclusion. Black’s status as a previous unknown with a catchy but readily mocked hit would be far less anomalous in a mainstream that has stretched to accommodate songs like Psy’s “Gangnam Style” and Baauer’s “Harlem Shake.” But in 2011, YouTube was still widely regarded as a sideshow in the industry. Even Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana herself, found the idea that a YouTube star could be mistaken for a serious artist beyond the pale.

"It should be harder to be an artist," Cyrus spat in an interview with Australia's Daily Telegraph two weeks after “Friday” went viral. "You shouldn't just be able to put a song on YouTube and go out on tour."

]]>Reggie Ugwuhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/reggieugwu/the-unbreakable-rebecca-blackFri, 07 Aug 2015 01:06:03 -0400Four years ago, she introduced the world to the most hated (and maddeningly unforgettable) song in a generation, was passed over by the music industry, and turned into a punchline — all before she was old enough for a learner's permit. Now 18, Rebecca Black is too famous to be normal and too normal to be famous. So what does she have to smile about?reggieugwunonadult
<p><b>Rebecca Black just turned 18</b> and she&rsquo;s forgotten how to flirt. It&rsquo;s a problem. She might be at a party in a circle of friends, all of them egging her on, with an attractive and available-seeming (but not <i>too</i> available) guy standing just across the room, almost within earshot, occasionally stealing glances at her between sips from a perspiring Solo cup. But if Black actually tries to talk to this guy, even if he&rsquo;s perfectly nice and funny, even if he compliments her wavy brown mermaid hair and natural California-king smile, she will inevitably freeze or, worse, say something that will make her want to bury her head in her hands and vanish into a pillowy wisp of smoke, Harry Potter-style.</p><p>It&rsquo;s not that she&rsquo;s not used to attention from guys &mdash; she is. They come up to her at the flea market or sometimes on the street, decent and smiling in a way that makes her daydream. But it&rsquo;s what happens shortly after, once the small talk has gone limp, or maybe a few days later over text, that has caused her to put a moratorium on engaging with strange men altogether. &ldquo;You look really familiar,&rdquo; they&rsquo;ll say, just like you would if you were in their shoes. &ldquo;Do I know you from somewhere?&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;And then it will click and that will be it,&rdquo; Black says, venting in a cheap French bistro in West L.A. &ldquo;It sucks.&rdquo; Her usually sunny demeanor dims slightly and she averts her big brown eyes, hesitating momentarily as if fondling the keys that launch the nukes. &ldquo;Their whole attitude will change, or they&rsquo;ll get really shy. I think it&rsquo;s really intimidating for a lot of people, but I don&rsquo;t know why. It&rsquo;s not like I&rsquo;m <i>Selena Gomez</i> or something. I&rsquo;m a pretty nice, normal person.&rdquo;</p><p>Nice? Totally. But normal? That&rsquo;s more complicated. Everyone remembers Rebecca Black. More than four years ago, when she was 13 and zealously Auto-Tuned, beaming directly into the camera and sing-talking a diabolically mindless and improbably innocent ode to the weekend, she was inescapable. The video for her song &ldquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfVsfOSbJY0">Friday</a>,&rdquo; which was written and produced for Black by the now-defunct vanity production company ARK Music Factory as a gift from her mother, became the fastest-spreading amateur viral video of all time when it was released in 2011, drawing more than 100 million views in just over 30 days.</p><p>You remember it. Girl wakes up in bed with comically out-of-control frizz, girl has manic craving for cereal, girl faces an unexpectedly crippling dilemma over &ldquo;kickin&rsquo; in the front seat&rdquo; or &ldquo;sittin&rsquo; in the backseat,&rdquo; girl climactically lists the days of the week. The lyrics of the song, staged in the video with fanatical literalism, took pop music&rsquo;s tendency to amplify only the most common human experiences to brazen extremes, until their content bore all the conceptual nuance of a Fisher-Price See &rsquo;N Say. Patrice Wilson, the founder of ARK, who delivers a bewildering rap verse in the video, <a href="http://gawker.com/5787213/meet-the-man-responsible-for-rebecca-black">said at the time</a> that he wanted to write a song that &ldquo;was really simple but something that sticks in people&#39;s head. To have people say, &#39;I hate this song, but I&#39;m still singing it.&rsquo;&rdquo; The successful result sounds like someone having a really fun stroke.</p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2015-08/6/14/enhanced/webdr02/anigif_longform-original-22103-1438886066-18.gif" width="800" height="442" alt="" /></p>
<p>"Gettin&#39; down on Friday."</p>
<p><small>Rebecca Black / Via <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfVsfOSbJY0">youtube.com</a></small></p>
<p>Black and her mother, Georgina Marquez, say the video for &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; was never supposed to be made public, and instead was meant for sharing among friends and family, like glamour shots or a wedding video. But ARK posted &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; to its YouTube page, where it was eventually picked up by early viral content portal <i><a href="http://thedailywhat.tumblr.com/post/3786344046/where-is-your-god-now-of-the-day-i-am-no-longer"><i>The Daily What</i></a></i> and <a href="http://tosh.cc.com/blog/2011/03/11/songwriting-isnt-for-everyone">the blog</a> of comedian Daniel Tosh&rsquo;s Comedy Central show <i>Tosh.0</i> (the latter headlining its post simply &ldquo;Songwriting Isn&rsquo;t For Everyone&rdquo;).</p><p>Reaction was swift and predictably ruthless. As the view count ticked into the millions, laughing at &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; became a national pastime, an instant mood-booster for restless cubicle dwellers, and the perfect foil for armchair music critics bemoaning the downfall of songcraft in the Auto-Tune era. Dubbed &ldquo;The Worst Song Ever&rdquo; by a rare consensus of people with two ears and a broadband connection, it was <a href="http://gawker.com/5788237/watch-stephen-colbert-and-jimmy-fallon-perform-rebecca-blacks-friday-on-late-night">covered</a> by Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert on <i>Late Night,</i> and by the kids of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey-VNes5YQs"><i>Glee</i></a>. Black herself, then in eighth grade, went on a major talk show tour, appearing on <i>Good Morning America</i>, MTV, <i>On Air With Ryan Seacrest</i>, and <i>The Tonight Show</i>, where she <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ffys3KKt4M">wore a cardigan with hearts on it</a> and commiserated about bad reviews with Bradley Cooper.</p><p>Maybe more than any other 18-year-old alive, Black is all of our anxieties about oversharing online made flesh: the fact that more than 350 million photos are shared to Facebook each day and 300-plus hours of video hit YouTube every minute; the nagging sense that kids born into a world where social networking exists are worse off &mdash; when it comes to college applications, job prospects, romantic relationships. For most of us, these fears are as vague as they are persistent, a concern filed somewhere in the back of the brain near jury duty and gum disease. But for Black they&rsquo;re reality. And, as luck would have it, her overexposure came just moments too soon in the history of the viral video industrial complex to translate into anything resembling a sustainable career. When it comes to making traumatic first impressions on the internet, Black is patient zero.</p><p>At the peak of "Friday"-mania, however, a frenzied few weeks in the spring of 2011, Black was almost surprisingly good-humored and cheerful about her notoriety in interviews. In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjFIzWjT5I4">a <i>GMA</i> segment</a>, she smiled while recounting death threats and gamely sang the national anthem in support of a modest claim that, sans Auto-Tune, she did actually have &ldquo;talent on some level.&rdquo; If she was a laughingstock, she seemed in on the joke, later filming a <a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/10d4ba5372/friday-lyrics-analyzed-with-rebecca-black?_cc=__d___&amp;_ccid=hl38d8.nrzwvh">Funny or Die video</a> in which she explained that &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; was really a veiled critique of America&rsquo;s foreign and economic policies.</p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2015-08/6/14/enhanced/webdr06/longform-16518-1438886574-1.jpg" width="300" height="159" alt="" /></p>
<p>Black on <i>Good Morning America</i>.</p>
<p><small>ABC.</small></p>
<p>Black hired a high-powered manager, on recommendation from Seacrest and others, but a handful of follow-up songs and videos debuted to diminishing returns. Eventually, the country&rsquo;s fascination with her and &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; fizzled, as it was destined to even before it began. By the time she was offered a dream cameo as Katy Perry&rsquo;s BFF in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4A">the video</a> for Perry&rsquo;s hit &ldquo;Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)&rdquo; that June, Black already felt like a dated pop culture reference. She took her place on the Mount Rushmore of weird internet stars: Tay Zonday, Chris Crocker, Double Rainbow guy, Rebecca Black. She was 14.</p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2015-08/6/17/enhanced/webdr11/enhanced-mid-9149-1438895434-1.jpg" width="720" height="720" alt="" /></p>
<p><small></small></p>
<p><b>On a golden</b> recent afternoon in Culver City, Black is furniture shopping in one of those dimly lit, cavernous galleries that make $475 fur dining chairs seem like a good idea. Wearing an oversize blue-and-white patchwork plaid button-down, shredded denim shorts with the pocket pouches exposed, and white sneakers, she&rsquo;s more mature than you remember her, with a noticeably deeper, lisp-free voice and emerging bone structure where a baby face used to be. With olive skin, long dark hair, and the kind of lips that start flame wars on celebrity gossip blogs, she could be a Kardashian who failed to inherit the vamp gene.<br /></p><p>In a week, Black will move out of her mother&rsquo;s house in Orange County and into her first apartment in Brentwood, most known as the affluent neighborhood where O.J. used to live, but now, thanks in part to its adjacency to the multichannel network AwesomenessTV, is earning a reputation as home to a growing number of YouTube stars too young to remember the Bronco. Three weeks ago, she graduated from Villa Park High School, where she transferred after two tumultuous years of being homeschooled as collateral for pursuing music. And just two days ago, she celebrated her 18th birthday with sushi at Nobu, chasing a night out with a pair of miraculously tasteful tattoos the morning after &mdash; three vertical dots on both middle fingers &mdash; her first.</p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2015-08/6/15/enhanced/webdr01/enhanced-mid-12084-1438888120-6.jpg" width="720" height="540" alt="" /></p>
<p>Bold manicure, modest tattoos.</p>
<p><small>Joyce Lee for BuzzFeed News</small></p>
<p>Black spies an angular wooden dining table she likes and flings extravagant, forest-green nails at her cell phone to send a pic to her friend and future roommate Andrew Lowe, whom she met through YouTube. Today Black has over a million subscribers on the platform, almost all of them her age and younger, where she posts silly weekly videos and answers questions about how to navigate school drama, how to be a better friend, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRHFdkXecpA">what to do about bullying</a>.<br /></p><p>&ldquo;Even with my friends, I&#39;ve always been the one that will help them out with situations,&rdquo; Black says. &ldquo;People can vent to me all day; I&rsquo;ll listen to it.&rdquo;</p><p>When &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; exploded, the YouTube community was a dubious ally &mdash; a source of more snark and vitriol than moral support; but now it&rsquo;s home. Black&rsquo;s life revolves around the platform &mdash; her entire friend group, amassed online and at annual gatherings like <a href="http://vidcon.com/">VidCon</a>, consists of fellow YouTube stars, including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/thatsojack">ThatSoJack</a> (1.2 million subscribers) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/jennxpenn">JennxPenn</a> (2 million subscribers, <a href="http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/youtube-star-jennxpenn-strikes-book-deal-1201461554/">a book deal</a>, and <a href="http://badnightmovie.com/">a new movie</a>) &mdash; where she&rsquo;s regarded as something of a grizzled veteran. In Black&rsquo;s story, middle and high school&ndash;age kids enmeshed in the unlovely &ldquo;before&rdquo; phase of life see a survivor and a role model, someone who lived through a social media nightmare of epic proportions and managed to emerge unbroken.</p><p>She almost didn&rsquo;t make it through. When Black was in eighth grade and <a href="http://www.googlezeitgeist.com/en">the fastest-rising search term in the world</a>, the highs were so dizzying and surreal that she could scarcely wrap her head around them. For a girl like her &mdash; a dancer and singer from the time she was 3 years old, a ham in the local youth choir and school plays who could sit in front of the TV watching <i>Hannah Montana</i> and <i>American Idol</i> for hours &mdash; &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; had all the markers of a godsend. Suddenly Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers knew her name. Lady Gaga &mdash; then at the height of her incendiary powers &mdash; <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/472387/lady-gaga-rebecca-black-is-a-genius">called her a genius</a>.</p><p>But, like a wish granted by dark forces, what should have been a dream world had been warped from its inception. In school, Black became radioactive and lost almost all of her friends due to &ldquo;Friday.&rdquo; &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t really relate to what my friends were going through anymore, and they couldn&rsquo;t really relate to me, either,&rdquo; she says. When requests for appearances and interviews started to overwhelm her schedule and sink her grades, she pulled out of school entirely and switched to online courses at home, just weeks before the end of the school year.</p><p>&ldquo;All of a sudden, I had to grow up really fast.&rdquo;</p>
<iframe src="https://instagram.com/p/vmgPg_TXRw/embed/" height="710" width="612" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" ></iframe>
<p><small><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://instagram.com/p/vmgPg_TXRw/">instagram.com</a></small></p>
<p>Part of the reason Black was able to smile on camera through the &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; debacle was because she had learned previously how cruel people could be, and how that cruelty always said more about the afflicters than the afflicted. Near her 12th birthday, two years before she would become the butt of a million jokes on the internet, she had been forced to change schools due to what her mom describes as severe bullying from &ldquo;mean girls.&rdquo;</p><p>When she first saw the callous tenor of the response to &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; online (sample comment: &ldquo;I hope you cut yourself and die&rdquo;), Black&rsquo;s mom, understandably, asked Black if she wanted to take the video down and withdraw from the unsparing scrutiny of the web. But Black surprised her by protesting the suggestion, calling it insulting.</p><p>&ldquo;She said, &lsquo;No, it&#39;s my right to have my video up there. Why should I have to take my video down?&rsquo;" Marquez recalls. &ldquo;And that was the moment that did it for me. From that point on I was like, <i>You go, girl. We got this.</i>"</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always had a pretty thick skin &mdash; that&rsquo;s just how I am,&rdquo; Black adds. &ldquo;When I get nervous, or uncomfortable or sad, I just try and make light out of it and laugh.&rdquo;<br /></p>
<p><small></small></p>
<p><b>Even more intractable</b> than haters online were the machinations of the popular music industry. Black&rsquo;s mother paid $4,000 in two installments to ARK Music Factory to produce &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; (she says claims in the media about her family&rsquo;s wealth are overblown), hoping the experience would give her only daughter a sampling of what it would be like to pursue her dreams of pop stardom. When, incredibly, that sampling turned into a gorge, Black and her family reoriented themselves to try to make the most out of the opportunity.<br /></p><p>Black&rsquo;s parents, both veterinarians, knew little of the entertainment business, so they hired veteran talent manager Debra Baum, whose previous clients had included Paula Abdul and Tears for Fears. Baum immediately set out to capitalize on the momentum of &ldquo;Friday,&rdquo; fielding press and business inquiries and pursuing a deal to record an album. On the latter front, meeting Perry proved instrumental: The pop superstar introduced Black to key industry contacts after they worked together on the set of &ldquo;Last Friday Night.&rdquo; In the spring and summer of 2011, Black says she entered into serious discussions with several major labels.</p><p>Meanwhile, the relationship between Black and ARK began to sour. She and her mother got into a <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/exclusive-rebecca-black-fighting-ark-music-factory-over-friday-20110401">legal dispute</a> with Patrice Wilson and his partner Clarence Jey over control of the master recordings of &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; and its video, which, having just crossed 165 million views on YouTube, was generating large sums in royalties. After ARK put up a paywall in June 2011 requiring users to pay a $2.99 rental fee to view &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; in lieu of standard preroll ads, Black&rsquo;s family successfully petitioned to have the video pulled from the platform altogether. Wilson didn&rsquo;t respond to requests to comment for this story, but Jey, via email, denied the accusations that ARK illegally withheld the &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; masters and said he wasn&rsquo;t involved in imposing the rental fee.</p><p>&ldquo;I have no idea why or who [put up the paywall], as I was not managing the YouTube channel,&rdquo; Jey said. &ldquo;It was very random, perhaps experimental, and, in my opinion, silly.&rdquo;</p><p>Eventually, the two parties reached an agreement in which Black owns both the video and the song recording, and Wilson and Jey receive a minority percentage of royalties from both as the songwriters. Black reposted &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; to her own channel in September 2011, where it was once again free to view, with the caveat that the view count had to be reset to zero. By YouTube&rsquo;s estimate, cumulative views for &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; today would be upwards of 250 million.</p><p>By the time the video resurfaced, however, Black had other problems. After months of promising negotiations with a major label she declines to name, she was just a day away from an in-person meeting to sign papers when she got a call that the label was choosing not to move forward. She felt the wind go out of her. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t know how volatile the entertainment industry is,&rdquo; Black&rsquo;s mother says now. &ldquo;That people can just pull the plug on things last minute.&rdquo; To this day, Black isn&rsquo;t sure exactly why things fell apart (the official excuse was executive turnover), but at the time viral stars &mdash; even those without baggage like hers &mdash; were still considered to occupy a lower caste than those produced by the industry.</p><p>Had it been released today, &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; almost certainly would have gone to No. 1 on <i>Billboard</i>&rsquo;s flagship singles chart the Hot 100 (which began counting YouTube streams in its formula in 2013), a distinction that, for an unsigned artist, would have made a recording contract a foregone conclusion. Black&rsquo;s status as a previous unknown with a catchy but readily mocked hit would be far less anomalous in a mainstream that has stretched to accommodate songs like Psy&rsquo;s &ldquo;Gangnam Style&rdquo; and Baauer&rsquo;s &ldquo;Harlem Shake.&rdquo; But in 2011, YouTube was still widely regarded as a sideshow in the industry. Even Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana herself, found the idea that a YouTube star could be mistaken for a serious artist beyond the pale.</p><p>"It should be harder to be an artist," Cyrus spat <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/miley-cyrus-slams-youtube-video-sensations-rebecca-black-harder-artist-article-1.124241">in an interview</a> with Australia&#39;s <i>Daily Telegraph</i> two weeks after &ldquo;Friday&rdquo; went viral. "You shouldn&#39;t just be able to put a song on YouTube and go out on tour."</p>
<p><img src="https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2015-08/6/17/enhanced/webdr12/enhanced-mid-12117-1438895486-1.jpg" width="720" height="800" alt="" /></p>
<p><small></small></p>
nonadult"Gettin' down on Friday."nonadultBlack on <i>Good Morning America</i>.nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultBold manicure, modest tattoos.nonadultHere's What Your Favourite YouTubers Looked Like In Their First Videohttps://www.buzzfeed.com/eleanorbate/heres-what-your-favourite-youtubers-looked-like-in-their-fir?utm_term=4ldqpia
Needless to say, they’ve all upped their camera game.

]]>Ellie Batehttps://www.buzzfeed.com/eleanorbate/heres-what-your-favourite-youtubers-looked-like-in-their-firTue, 28 Jul 2015 06:16:25 -0400Needless to say, they've all upped their camera game.eleanorbatenonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2009
<b>Subscribers:</b> 8,700,000+
The now ultra-famous Zoella's first video was her take on the crazy-popular old-school YouTube fad of filming yourself holding up random items in your room. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdIFAYA933o">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2009
<b>Subscribers:</b> 4,400,000+
A very young Alfie Deyes' first YouTube video was what he calls a "review" of fellow super-successful YouTuber Charlie McDonnell. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVcJQl5uV-E">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2009
<b>Subscribers:</b> 3,100,000+
With the help of her sisters-in-law, Nik and Sam of <a href="http://youtube.com/user/pixiwoo">pixiwoo</a>, Tanya's first video was a makeup tutorial inspired by Blake Lively's character Serena in <i>Gossip Girl</i>. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVLL1KoQg-I">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2009
<b>Subscribers:</b> 2,300,000+
Jim's first (watchable) video on YouTube is him discussing his tips for successfully attending a festival. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVa9ngkaPWs">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2012
<b>Subscribers:</b> 4,900,000+
Joe was bound to be successful from the start, because he's Zoella's brother, so his first video was pretty simple: an introduction to his channel. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9nPrLO_0pQ">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2010
<b>Subscribers:</b> 2,200,000+
Louise's first video was one of the great classics of British YouTube: a Primark haul. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbWxXKZoAXY">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2009
<b>Subscribers:</b> 3,060,000+
The first available video on King's channel is of him explaining that he was hacked and all of his old videos were deleted. But, in traditional Kingsley style, he manages to be completely hilarious about it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T12yQeNgNw">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2009
<b>Subscribers:</b> 1,600,000+
Sammi talks a lot about health and fitness on her channel nowadays, and her first video (filmed in her car?!) was a pretty awkward discussion of her healthy eating tips. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3blXOL6b7VY">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2010
<b>Subscribers:</b> 3,800,000+
Marcus Butler's first video is a "random introduction" to his channel and is HIDEOUSLY AWKWARD. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnXXgrfCXng">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2011
<b>Subscribers:</b> 4,800,000+
Similar to his video style nowadays, Caspar's first video was a comedic discussion about how to be happy. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Z0Oca529U">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2009
<b>Subscribers:</b> 1,200,000+
Turns out Fleur has had an interest in beauty since her first-ever video, which was a tutorial on how to "de-pot" Urban Decay's Primer Potion. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUfxqLjM0uo">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2007
<b>Subscribers:</b> 7,100,000+
Tyler has been making YouTube videos for almost eight years, and his first was of him sitting in his dorm room, talking about the thunderstorm that happened that day. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIdT_tIPomw">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2009
<b>Subscribers:</b> 5,000,000+
Joey's oldest videos seem to have been deleted, but the oldest one available on his channel is a vlog from October 2011. That hair though. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDpTppwc-UY">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2009
<b>Subscribers:</b> 3,700,000+
Sticking to the classic tutorial style, Ingrid's oldest video is a how-to for a classic red lip. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozQA5XcBnsI">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2009
<b>Subscribers:</b> 580,000+
British beauty guru Patricia's first video was a hotel room tour and outfit of the day – two of the most classic YouTube formats COMBINED. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw1xyYyiPpY">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2006
<b>Subscribers:</b> 2,700,000+
So, YouTube was founded in February 2005, and Phil's first "video blog" was uploaded in March 2006. He was basically one of the first-ever YouTubers. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0dsyXzmHFM">Watch it here!</a>nonadult<b>Making videos since:</b> 2006
<b>Subscribers:</b> 4,900,000+
Appropriately titled "HELLO INTERNET", Dan Howell's first proper video (as he puts it) is just a simple introduction to his channel. He talks about how he's decided to "give it a shot" – it worked out quite well for him. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3q26mIsk1M">Watch it here!</a>nonadult52 Fragen von meiner Mutter, als sie zum ersten Mal LeFloid, Dner & Co sahhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/karstenschmehl/was-macht-der-junge-da-mit-dem-glaetteisen?utm_term=4ldqpia
“Wenn YouTube bedeutet, sich vor eine Kamera zu setzen und zu labern, dann sollte ich das auch machen, oder?”

And although one YouTube commenter made a very good point...

...you can't ignore the fact that this music video is oozing YouTube royalty.

DO THE CHAIYYA CHAIYYA ALREADY, EVERYBODY!

Follow BuzzFeed India on Facebook:

]]>Shayan Royhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/shayanroy/dont-stop-doing-the-chaiyya-chaiyyaTue, 19 May 2015 08:25:07 -0400<b>Doing the <i>Chaiyya Chaiyya</i> to some good old MJ? YES PLEASE.</b>shayanroynonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultZoella Used A Ghostwriter On Her Fast-Selling Debut Novelhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/zoella-used-a-ghostwriter-on-her-fast-selling-debut-novel?utm_term=4ldqpia
The YouTube star authored the fastest-selling debut novel ever. “Zoe Sugg did not write the book Girl Online on her own,” says her publisher.

YouTube star Zoe Sugg didn't write all of her novel Girl Online on her own, according to her publisher.

Girl Online is a novel about a girl who blogs "her hidden feelings about friendship, boys, high school drama, her crazy family, and the panic attacks that have begun to take over her life", before being whisked away to New York.

It sold 78,000 copies in its first week, while book signings around the UK have been total sell-outs.

The use of ghostwriters is relatively common in the world of young adult fiction and celebrity books, although Sugg and her team had not previously mentioned that she had assistance on the project.

But there are clues: in the acknowledgements of Girl Online Sugg thanks "everyone at Penguin for helping me put together my first novel, especially Amy Alward and Siobhan Curham, who were with me every step of the way".

Alward is Sugg's editor while Siobhan Curham is a prolific author of young adult fiction. It is not clear to what extent or in what role Curham was involved in the writing of the book.

Either way, the book is still number one on Amazon, beating the latest Jamie Oliver cookbook in the important pre-Christmas sales period.

]]>Jim Watersonhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/zoella-used-a-ghostwriter-on-her-fast-selling-debut-novelSun, 07 Dec 2014 12:56:34 -0500<b>The YouTube star authored the fastest-selling debut novel ever.</b> "Zoe Sugg did not write the book <i>Girl Online</i> on her own," says her publisher.jimwatersonnonadult<i>Girl Online</i> is a novel about a girl who blogs "her hidden feelings about friendship, boys, high school drama, her crazy family, and the panic attacks that have begun to take over her life", before being whisked away to New York.
It sold 78,000 copies in its first week, while book signings around the UK have been total sell-outs.nonadult"To be factually accurate, you would need to say Zoe Sugg did not write the book <i>Girl Online</i> on her own," <a href="http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/article1492948.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2014_12_07">Penguin told the <i>Sunday Times</i></a>.
The use of ghostwriters is relatively common in the world of young adult fiction and celebrity books, although Sugg and her team had not previously mentioned that she had assistance on the project.
But there are clues: in the acknowledgements of <i>Girl Online</i> Sugg thanks "everyone at Penguin for helping me put together my first novel, especially Amy Alward and Siobhan Curham, who were with me every step of the way".
Alward is Sugg's editor while Siobhan Curham is a prolific author of young adult fiction. It is not clear to what extent or in what role Curham was involved in the writing of the book.nonadult<blockquote class="tweet"><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B4RGjsqCMAEjIXQ.jpg"><a><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/516527128775360512/NLPkL9Hz_normal.jpeg">Zoë@ZozeeBo</a><a>Follow</a><p class="tweet_text entry-title">This might answer some of your tweets! X</p><a>4:48 PM - 07 Dec 14</a><a>Reply</a><a>Retweet</a><a>Favorite</a></blockquote>nonadultnonadult<blockquote class="tweet"><img src=""><a><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/539406219916869634/PI59r_3e_normal.jpeg">Chloë Hamilton@chloehamilton</a><a>Follow</a><p class="tweet_text entry-title">Success of Zoella's ghost written novel just shows how powerful a brand can be. Money talks, I guess.</p><a>2:28 PM - 07 Dec 14</a><a>Reply</a><a>Retweet</a><a>Favorite</a></blockquote>nonadult<blockquote class="tweet"><img src=""><a><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/465972750138363906/QclAGrz2_normal.jpeg">Luke Brown@gr4sshopp3r</a><a>Follow</a><p class="tweet_text entry-title">Zoella's book was ghostwritten? You mean a publisher abused an online sensations young followers for monetary gain?! SHOCK HORROR.</p><a>1:47 PM - 07 Dec 14</a><a>Reply</a><a>Retweet</a><a>Favorite</a></blockquote>nonadult<blockquote class="tweet"><img src=""><a><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/541312489200570370/4Q7ra47W_normal.jpeg">❁claudia❁@justholdmefast</a><a>Follow</a><p class="tweet_text entry-title">people are srsly comparing zoella to jk rowling
sellout blogger that released a ghostwritten novel vs. a real literary author ??? just no</p><a>7:12 PM - 05 Dec 14</a><a>Reply</a><a>Retweet</a><a>Favorite</a></blockquote>nonadultnonadult<blockquote class="tweet"><img src=""><a><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/525400484434427904/7f-hEWfq_normal.jpeg">Ebenezer Scrooge@BarryPierce</a><a>Follow</a><p class="tweet_text entry-title">In other news along the lines of Zoella's book being ghostwritten, water is wet and the Pope is Catholic.</p><a>1:36 PM - 07 Dec 14</a><a>Reply</a><a>Retweet</a><a>Favorite</a></blockquote>nonadult<blockquote class="tweet"><img src=""><a><img src="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/502399924080631810/xL_eqD6c_normal.jpeg">Caitlin Raynor@Bookywookydooda</a><a>Follow</a><p class="tweet_text entry-title">Why the stressing re Zoella? Nobody minds that tv, sport or film stars are ghostwritten cos, like her, their day jobs aren't being writers.</p><a>1:01 PM - 07 Dec 14</a><a>Reply</a><a>Retweet</a><a>Favorite</a></blockquote>nonadultA sequel is due out next summer.nonadultnonadultWhich YouTube Star Are You?https://www.buzzfeed.com/neyann/which-youtuber-are-you-most-like-r0f7?utm_term=4ldqpia
Instant subscribe for life.

]]>Anna Neymanhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/neyann/which-youtuber-are-you-most-like-r0f7Fri, 31 Oct 2014 03:37:33 -0400<b>Instant subscribe for life.</b>neyannnonadultnonadultCan You Identify These Famous YouTube Stars?https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinharris/can-you-identify-these-famous-youtube-stars?utm_term=4ldqpia
Forget “movie stars.” YouTubers are the rulers of the world.

Getty Images

]]>Kristin Harrishttps://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinharris/can-you-identify-these-famous-youtube-starsMon, 13 Oct 2014 16:03:20 -0400<b>Forget "movie stars." YouTubers are the rulers of the world.</b>kristinharrisnonadultnonadultnonadultPhotography Project Captures YouTube Stars In The Style Of Glamorous Old Hollywoodhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/samimain/photography-project-captures-youtube-stars-in-the-style-of-g
Robin Roemer shows the unique spirit of today’s celebrities, YouTube stars, through the aesthetic of Old Hollywood glamour portraits.

As entertainment becomes more accessible and digestible, the stars of today become familiar to us, attainable in a way that celebrity has never been in the past.

The purpose of this project was to take today's most familiar form of celebrity, the YouTube creator, and capture them in an analog way. The stars and starlets of glamorous Old Hollywood, who also lived in a new golden age of media, were immortalized in film; a process left behind in a digital age.

I pay homage to the film lighting greatness of George Hurrell and celebrate the imaginative and enterprising spirit of the YouTube creator in this project all about contrast.

Robin Roemer is a Los Angeles-based portrait photographer. You can follow Robin on Instagram: @robinshoots.

]]>Sami Mainhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/samimain/photography-project-captures-youtube-stars-in-the-style-of-gWed, 07 May 2014 12:03:30 -0400<b>Robin Roemer shows the unique spirit of today&#39;s celebrities, YouTube stars, through the aesthetic of Old Hollywood glamour portraits.</b>samimainnonadultAs entertainment becomes more accessible and digestible, the stars of today become familiar to us, attainable in a way that celebrity has never been in the past.
The purpose of this project was to take today&#39;s most familiar form of celebrity, the YouTube creator, and capture them in an analog way. The stars and starlets of glamorous Old Hollywood, who also lived in a new golden age of media, were immortalized in film; a process left behind in a digital age.
I pay homage to the film lighting greatness of George Hurrell and celebrate the imaginative and enterprising spirit of the YouTube creator in this project all about contrast.nonadult<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/chestersee">Chester See</a>nonadult<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/youdeserveadrink">Mamrie Hart</a>nonadult<a href="https://www.youtube.com/itsgrace">Grace Helbig</a>nonadult<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/MyHarto">Hannah Hart</a>nonadult<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/tyleroakley">Tyler Oakley</a>nonadult<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/MakeupbyMandy24">Amanda Steele</a>nonadult<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/MysteryGuitarMan">Joe Penna</a>nonadult<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/missglamorazzi">Miss Glamorazzi</a>nonadult<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/KassemG">Kassem G</a>nonadult<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/MadilynBailey">Madilyn Bailey</a>nonadultRobin <a href="http://newhollywoodproject.tumblr.com/project">gives</a> "special thanks to Mari Mendez (lighting assist), Wendy Diaz (hair), Maribel Moreno (makeup), Sara Medd (wardrobe), and Elizabeth Kott/Closet Rich (wardrobe)."
Robin Roemer is a Los Angeles-based portrait photographer. You can follow Robin on Instagram: <a href="http://instagram.com/robinshoots">@robinshoots</a>.nonadultAwesome Mash-Up Of The Most Popular YouTube Videos Of 2013https://www.buzzfeed.com/424hannah/youtube-rewind-2013-gho5
To celebrate 2013, YouTube invited some of their most popular stars for a mash-up of popular moments this year. Can you spot all the references?

]]>424Hannahhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/424hannah/youtube-rewind-2013-gho5Thu, 12 Dec 2013 11:55:02 -0500<b>To celebrate 2013, YouTube invited some of their most popular stars for a mash-up of popular moments this year.</b> Can you spot all the references?424hannahnonadultEpic Meal Time Meets Freddie Wonghttps://www.buzzfeed.com/mrbabyman/epic-meal-time-meets-freddie-wong-b7t
YouTube’s favorite gastronauts meet the DIY Visual FX master for more.

We know you probably haven't been watching in a while (or possibly ever), but LG15's ending symbolizes the end of an geological period of Internet Time.

]]>Scott Lambhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/lonelygirl15-finaleFri, 01 Aug 2008 15:58:54 -0400The era of LonelyGirl officially comes to an end today.scottnonadultFredhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/fred
A 14-year-old who talks like a chipmunk has YouTube’s fourth most-subscribed video channel.

If you haven't heard of Fred, don't sweat it -- you're probably older than 14. And you may have an aversion to listening to someone screech instead of speak. But 270,000 YouTube subscribers can't be wrong, can they? Can they!?

]]>Scott Lambhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/fredTue, 08 Jul 2008 13:36:06 -0400A 14-year-old who talks like a chipmunk has YouTube's fourth most-subscribed video channel.scottnonadultLeonciehttps://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/leoncie
Leoncie proves that despite Björk and Sigur Rós, not all music from Iceland is tasteful and arty.

If you haven't heard of Iceland's Leoncie, it's probably because she's slightly unhinged and possibly a genius; her YouTube channel defies comment. (Click the YouTube links to be able to watch the videos -- for some reason, Leoncie doesn't let you embed her movies.)

]]>Scott Lambhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/leoncieMon, 23 Jun 2008 13:12:29 -0400Leoncie proves that despite Bj&ouml;rk and Sigur R&oacute;s, not all music from Iceland is tasteful and arty.scottnonadultTricia Walsh-Smithhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/Tricia_Walsh-Smith
The wife of a major Broadway theater operator airs their sordid marriage secrets on YouTube in order to gain leverage in a divorce.

Watch the YouTube divorce video. Tricia's crazy eyes and theatrical over-acting seems to discredit her case more than help it.

Editorial note:Whoa! You've found a super-old post here on BuzzFeed, from an earlier era of the site. It doesn't really represent where we are anymore, and may in fact be totally broken, but we're leaving it up as a part of our early history.

]]>BuzzFeed Classichttps://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/Tricia_Walsh-SmithWed, 16 Apr 2008 14:34:36 -0400The wife of a major Broadway theater operator airs their sordid marriage secrets on YouTube in order to gain leverage in a divorce.buzznonadultYouTube Awards Winnershttps://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/YouTube_Awards_Winners
Remember those viral videos everyone was sending you six months ago? Now they’re being given awards.

The talk about this being the new Oscars is a wee bit premature, but it's nice to know that YouTube viewers aren't just all about 2 Girls, 1 Cup reaction videos. Here are the winners in all 12 categories.

Editorial note:Whoa! You've found a super-old post here on BuzzFeed, from an earlier era of the site. It doesn't really represent where we are anymore, and may in fact be totally broken, but we're leaving it up as a part of our early history.

]]>BuzzFeed Classichttps://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/YouTube_Awards_WinnersFri, 21 Mar 2008 15:56:44 -0400Remember those viral videos everyone was sending you six months ago? Now they're being given awards.buzznonadultAnita Renfroehttps://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/Anita_Renfroe
The Christian comedienne, mother, and YouTube sensation gets profiled in the New York Times.

Finally, a feature on the lady who introduced "viral video" into to the lexicon of the cable-modem-and-minivan crowd!

Editorial note:Whoa! You've found a super-old post here on BuzzFeed, from an earlier era of the site. It doesn't really represent where we are anymore, and may in fact be totally broken, but we're leaving it up as a part of our early history.

]]>BuzzFeed Classichttps://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/Anita_RenfroeTue, 26 Feb 2008 11:49:27 -0500The Christian comedienne, mother, and YouTube sensation gets profiled in the New York Times.buzznonadultmagibon / MRirianhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/magibon
One of the most popular profiles on YouTube features videos of a young girl named “magibon” or “MRirian” staring bashfully into a webcam.

Her profile says she is 21-years old but various sources say she is actually only 14. Wonder if her parents know she is getting hundreds of thousands of views each week? She looks like she is either gonna break out into tears or peals of laughter.

Editorial note:Whoa! You've found a super-old post here on BuzzFeed, from an earlier era of the site. It doesn't really represent where we are anymore, and may in fact be totally broken, but we're leaving it up as a part of our early history.

]]>BuzzFeed Classichttps://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/magibonTue, 15 Jan 2008 11:19:24 -0500One of the most popular profiles on YouTube features videos of a young girl named "magibon" or "MRirian" staring bashfully into a webcam.buzznonadult